Little Learner and Mom

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

This year has been tough on the math curriculum choices. My son did exceptionally well in a curriculum we used for 2 years, but this year the company decided not to update the 4th grade book and we were devastated and had to make a lot of changes. With these new changes came some new challenges, but we were fortunate to receive Math Essentials: Basic Math Skills Rescue Parts 1 and 2 to review.

Basic Math Skills Rescue Parts 1 and 2 are mastery math skills books, the goals are to help students master all 6 basic math skills in order to be successful in algebra. Each book is divided into 3 math skills area.

Whole Numbers & Integers
Fractions
Decimals & Percents
Geometry
Problem Solving
Pre-Algebra

Each books gives you free access to the online video library for grades 3 thru Algebra. The lessons in the books gives your students detail instruction and practice problems. Basic Math Skills Rescue Parts 1 and 2 allows student to do a few practice problems as a warm up and then they start to work the non practice problems. What I like about the books is that I can use them along side my son’s math curriculum as away to help better understand concepts or to give him more practice. Basic Math Skills Rescue Parts 1 and 2 goal is to give your student a strong understanding and mastery of critical foundations of algebra.

We have been using both books along side our math curriculum, we first started using the books to help him better understand integers. We recently have been using it to help him better master geometry. I wanted him to have more practice and so we worked on angels and geometric terms. I was very happy we had these books because he has light bulb moment and completely understood the concept and we were able to keep moving along in his math curriculum.

I really like Basic Math Skills Rescue Parts 1 and 2 books they really work on mastery and ensuring that your student will have a full foundation in basic math skills. You can work the books from front to back or you can use them to help you review skills.

Be sure to check out the other crew’s review of Math Essentials: Basic Math Skills Rescue Parts 1 and 2 by clicking the banner below.

1st Grade, 2nd Grade Curriculum, 3rd Grade Curriculum, 4th Grade, Curriculum, Education, Homeschool, Language Arts, Math, Reviews, spelling, Writing

Reading Eggs and Mathseeds Review !

September 24, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

DISCLAIMER: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Reading Eggs and Mathseeds has been one of those programs that have been around for a very long time in our homeschool. Reading Eggs and Mathseeds were my son’s first online programs when he was 4 years old. The crew was given the opportunity to review Reading Eggs and Mathseeds I thought this would be a great time to revisit one of our old favorite online platforms.

Reading Eggs is online phonics, grammar, and spelling program. Recently the company introduced a new area called Fast Phonics and before this program, the company released Reading Eggs Jr for ages 2-4 years. The original Readings Eggs (ages 3-7) and Eggpress (ages 7-13) has been a frequent flyer in our home. Mathseeds is another great program that is on the platform it is for ages 3-9.

We have used Reading Eggs and Mathseeds in our home school for many years. Both of these programs provide a great foundation for literacy, grammar, and math skills. The lessons are fun, quick, and easy for the kids to maneuver with little parental assistance. Reading Eggs offers parents placement so the system can place your student in the best place on the map. Reading Eggs is a literacy program that will take your student from the very basics of lof letter recognition, sounds, blends, sight words, and reading. Students will have opportunities to earn golden eggs, students have tons of activities to keep them busy with learning and reading. One of the features I really liked about Reading Eggs is the driving test and story factory.

Mathseeds works very similarly to Reading Eggs the students can take a placement test or they can just start from the beginning and move through the path. Parents can also manually place their students in the lesson they think best for them from the detailed parent dashboard. Students will work on number recognition and mobe through topics covered up to 3rd grade.

Reading Eggs and Mathseeds is a wonderful introduction to online learning for younger students and there is something for everyone. We have really enjoyed using these programs over the years. The parent resources offer full curriculum printables and they also include a wonderful scope and sequence you can follow. The company has excellent customer service. Just when I thought my son had outgrown Reading Eggs he was able to use Reading Eggpress for higher-level grammar and spelling to review.

I highly recommend Reading Eggs and Mathseeds for homeschooling and for those students who attend traditional school. Be sure to check out the other crew’s reviews by clicking the banner below.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingeggsUSCA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/readingeggs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingeggs/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8ED-7e2xA3fxgrM7Wq2XGQ

Education, Family, Geography, Homeschool, Reviews, Spanish

Underdog Games Trekking The World Review!

September 13, 2021January 14, 2022 Little Learner and Mom

Complimentary product received!

Have you ever wanted to travel around the world? Well, your family will get that opportunity while playing Underdog Games Trekking The World. It was a great honor to be able to try out this fabulous game and go on an exciting adventure right from the comforts of my own home. Trekking The World is for ages 10+, 30-60 mins gameplay, and for 2- 6 players.

From the moment you unpack this game, you are captivated by its bold and vivid colors. Trekking The World comes with :

1 World Map Board
48 Oversized Destination Cards
5 Trekker Meeples (wooden)
48 Souvenir Cubes (wooden)
1 Custom Bag
5 Suitcase Mats
Most Souvenir Tiles
12 Journey Cards
75 Trek Cards
10 Region Bonus Tokens
5 player Aids
1 Score Pad (several sheets)

All of the items for the game can neatly be stored in the convenient box and game piece sorter. The game board and the pieces are made from sturdy cardboard and wood. The games come with complete instructions on how to play. If you don’t want to read through the instructions and need more of a visual approach to gameplay the company provides a step-by-step video link in the box and on the Trekking The World product description on the Underdog Games website.

I am a visual person when learning how to play new games so before we played as a family I watched the video so I knew how to set the board up properly. The video was great because I could stop and play as I needed. After I learned how to set up the board and play the game we set down as a family and watched the video and played. My son loved just exploring the board on the initial set-up. I let him flip through the beautiful “48 Oversized Destination Cards”. I noticed that once we finish playing the game as we were cleaning the game he separated several of the cards and asked if we could look these places up.

Trekking The World gameplay was easy for us once we got the hang of it. We played 3 times over the course of a week. I really loved how we could start the game on any continent then trek across the world. Trekking The World is not just a game for entertainment this game teaches geography, history, and cooperative learning. The game also gives you a great adventure of traveling the world.

I highly recommend this game be added to your homeschool geography gameschooling. If you are new to the gameschooling trend this would be a great way to add a geography game for the entire family.

Be sure to check out the other squad member’s reviews of Trekking The National Parks and Trekking The National Parks Trivia by clicking the banner below.

Critical Thinking and Logic, Education, Family, Geography, Parenting, Reviews

World Watch Review!

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

DISCLAIMER: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

We have been watching WORLD Watch videos on Fridays as part of our current events. WORLD Watch was given to us to review with the crew. We received a six-month subscription for the whole family.

WORLD Watch is a online news program meant for families. WORLD Watch provides news coverage of current events. Events are updated throughout the week. You can watch video coverage of these events.

“WORLD Watch is a video current events program designed for students that develops critical thinking, biblical discernment, and news literacy.”

We watched videos about the Olympics and most recently we watched a video about hurricane Ida outage. It was nice to see a nice of variety of news coverage around the world. There are some political coverage in the videos. My son was intrigued by the triceratops coverage in Paris France and this is from a kiddo that isn’t a huge dinosaur fan.

WORLD Watch videos average about 5-10 mins and they cover single topics or variety of news coverage. We did see videos that offered viewpoints from christian prospective. I personally prefer not to see religion mixed with news. I would have also liked to have seen news reporters that were diverse especially those who are covering more ethnic regions.

WORLD Watch not only covers current events there are also topics that are historical. My son also found interesting the coverage of Nairobi, Kenya about the issues that the hearing and death community having issues with masking wearing that doesn’t allow them to read mouths.

WORLD Watch does have bloopers at the end of the videos that we found to be funny. If you are looking for a clean current events news outlet that allows for the entire family to watch this is a good option. The religious focus isn’t heavily present in the videos but you will hear and see some mentions.

Be sure to check out the other crew’s reviews of WORLD Watch by clicking the banner below.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldwatchshow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldwatchnews/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhlnq_RLfpSdQ8Fm6VEEjw

4th Grade, Art, Geography, Homeschool, Reviews

Eat2Explore Review!

September 5, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

Disclaimer : This is a contribution post for the Melanated Gold Review Squad all the statements are my honest review and products were purchased with my own money.

Cooking is a favorite activity in our home and anytime I can pair a unit study with a Eat2Explore box I jump at the opportunity. When the Melanated Gold Review Squad was given the opportunity to review Eat2Explore I was more than happy to contribute to the team. We have been Eat2Explore subscribers since 2019 and we really enjoy receiving these boxes. Eat2Explore is an award winning culinary box subscription for families. The boxes are sent out monthly or you can select individual boxes to purchase. Families are taken on a culinary adventure to learn about the country of interest . I love when these boxes arrive, they smell so good. The authentic smell of spices kickstart your adventure and then you dig into the box and find all these exciting cooking supplies and lessons.

Each Eat2Explore box comes with:

3 Recipe Cards
Spices/Sauce/Grain Mixes
Shopping List (LOVE THIS!!!!)
Informational Country Card
Educational Lessons
Special Cooking Tools
Country Passport

I love how the company uses stickers on the outside of the box to remind you what country you are visiting that month, this makes for easy organization. Can you believe you get all those items in that one box, just add the fresh ingredients needed. Eat2Explore offers a option to reorder the spices, sauce and grains. We loved the Ethiopia box so much we defiantly took advantage of the box refill option. Having the option to order extra supplies is great if you have a large family or just don’t want the hassle of trying to find the spices yourself. We are a family of 3 and boxes can feed a family of 4. The company does offer vegetarian option boxes and the boxes are easily modified to fit your dietary restrictions.

How I Use:

We use the Eat2Explore as part of any of our geography unit studies. I look to see if we have a box to that fits our geography unit study. If we dont have a box I look for a box in the region of study. We have several of the boxes on hand but there have been a few times I needed to grab a box from the Eat2Explore website. Eat2Explore has excellent customers service and shipping time. We dont cook all three recipes in the boxes every unit study, Let him pick which one he wants and we plan the day for cooking. The recipes we love we keep them in rotation for our monthly “International Dinner Night” and I purchase a spice package from the company. The Eat2Explore boxes adds that extra twist to our units and we look forward to trying new foods and learning about the culture and foods. There have been a few boxes we have had to add some extra seasoning to it for our own taste.

In April we cooked from Singapore box and made the Soy Chicken for dinner and the Ethiopia box is serious hit in this house. My son is learning about Kenya this month so we will taking out our Kenya box picking a something to make. One of the biggest reasons why we have continued to patronize the company is their commitment to detail and diversity.

Eat2Explore boxes can be purchased in bundles or annually subscriptions, the monthly cost of boxes are $24.95 plus shipping. You cancel or pause your subscriptions at anytime, the company also has an add on binder to help you store your recipes. September box is Israel and the October box is Singapore.

Don’t forget to check out the other Melanated Gold Review Squad members reviews by clicking the banner below. You can also check out Eat2Explore Instagram , Facebook , and Pinterest social media pages.

Curriculum, Education, Language Arts

It’s NOT Greek to Me…Review!

August 20, 2021August 20, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

DISCLAIMER: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

Have you ever struggled with the meaning of words or do you have student that is getting ready to prepare for college entrance exams. One of my most memorable lesson in high school was learning how to decode words using their roots, prefixes and suffixes. I have been reviewing over the summer vocabulary resources I would like to use with my son to get an early start on vocabulary building. One of the resources I was fortunate to be sent is It’s NOT Greek to Me! from Ready to Teach to review with the crew.

It’s NOT Greek to Me! is a vocabulary building curriculum that uses Greek morpheme. What is a morpheme “A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. We often call them roots, prefixes, and suffixes.” Students will work on the first set of 140 in It’s NOT Greek to Me! Students will embark on a fun-filled adventure of vocabulary building, with the use of historical background information. It’s NOT Greek to Me! includes stories, comics, coloring, flash cards and colored power point lessons for each lesson.

It’s NOT Greek to Me! curriculum comes with:

Instructor Manuel comes completed with 126 pages of 12 lessons, introduction, lesson plans, flash cards, answer key, lesson and review test.
Student Book with 12 lessons, colored blank flash cards, Greek morpheme index
Book binder ring
Paper hole puncher
Flash drive -Power Point Lessons

It’s NOT Greek to Me! appeals to all the different learning styles. The curriculum is meant for students in 7th -12 grade. My son is in 4th grade so we did the lessons together and because the curriculum is meant to be done at student own pace we can take our time. Students are able to learn a little historical information about they the Greek system. I did see mentions of Egyptian contributions it would have been nice to see more historical accurate information. The power point lesson were vibrant and my son enjoyed those they helped him better connect to the curriculum. I do like that there are review after every 2 lessons.

Students will work on :

Vocabulary building
Context clues
Creating words
Analyzing words

It’s NOT Greek to Me! is a nice curriculum if you are looking for an exciting way to teach roots, prefixes and suffixes. We found it enjoyable and we probably put this in our rotation as we continue to home school through out the years. Be sure to check out the other crew’s reviews on It’s NOT Greek to Me! from Ready to Teach by clicking the banner below.

4th Grade, Critical Thinking and Logic, Education, Family, Homeschool, Language Arts, Morning Basket, Uncategorized, Writing

The Fallacy Detective Review!

August 17, 2021August 17, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

Disclaimer: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

My son is very inquisitive and we have make a point for him to always search for the truth of the world around him. We are also continuing to incorporate logical thinking skills in our home school lesson. One thing that has been helping us the last few weeks to help feed his need to search for the truth of events and improving his critical thinking skills/logic is the Fallacy Detective .

If you aren’t familiar with the term fallacy “A fallacy is an error in logic – a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking.” Fallacy Detective is meant to be used with students with students ages 12 and up (but can work with as young as 8 IMO). The books has 38 lessons that are divided up into 5 areas of study.

The Inquiring Mind
Avoiding the Question
Making Assumptions
Statistical Fallacies
Propaganda

Fallacy Detective starts with a brief introduction about the book and how to use it. Students are given a short passage about the topic of study for that section along with examples of the topic. Students move onto the 1st lesson in that unit and they are given short scenarios and then they have to decide which behavior best fits that scenario. The book have fun illustrations and some are comic strips.

How we used the book!

My son and I do the book together during our table time. I refresh his memory about the unit topic and then I proceed to the lesson with him. The answer key to all the lesson questions are located in the back of the book. What I like about this book is that it provides excellent conversations for him and I. There were times when he felt that the answer key was wrong and he defended his reason why he felt this way. To be honest with you I also found myself thinking the answer to a few of them didn’t fit well. On those days we felt that the answers could have went one way or another I put stars next to the suggested answer and our answers.

I love how this book really got my son to thinking and asking more questions. He also took a lot away from each lessons. I heard him one day tell Francine a character from the cartoon Arthur she wasn’t using an inquiring mind. Lesson 2 hit home for him and I it was about “Love to listen. Do we struggle in this area in our home absolutely….LISTENING IS A DAILY STRUGGLE FRIENDS…. We read the exercise and he said mom this kinda sorts sound a little like how I do things sometimes. I reassured him and that even adults struggle with listening and we all need to continue practicing this skill. I was very happy to see him make the connections to real life situation.

Final word!

The Fallacy Detective in my opinion is a book best done along side a small group and family. The lessons are great conversation starters and I feel like they can lead to further deep discussions. The unit topics can be applied to everyday life happenings. The book really encourages the student to us their critical thinking skills. It also teaches student to look at situations from a different prospective.

I really like Fallacy Detective it will be in rotation for our table time activities. The cost of the book at the time of this review is $9.99 plus taxes/shipping. Be sure to check out the other crew’s reviews by clicking the banner below.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fallacydetective
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hansbluedorn/

1st Grade, 2nd Grade Curriculum, 3rd Grade Curriculum, 4th Grade, Education, Math

Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills! : Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication Wheels

August 11, 2021August 25, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Math fact fluency is one of those skills students need practice on a regular so they continue to be proficient. I was super excited about the crew reviewing the Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills!

Can I just say my son loves speed wheel drills. This year we had to make a change in his math curriculum and one of the things he loved was the speed wheels. When the Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills arrived and he flipped through the books he was super excited. I dont know what it is about math facts being in a wheel makes him love fluency work but he loves them.

We were sent the Addition, Multiplication and Division Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills! Each books comes with 1,440 speed wheel drills. The book also gives parent 21 tips math tips, instructions on how to use the books. Parents can time students or they can be not be times. I am personally noticed that my son has anxiety when things are timed so I dont time him. Each page has 12 speed wheels we did 1 row a day for 4 days a week. We used the Multiplication Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills but as we move into our home school year I plan to assign a different book for a day of the week because I want him practice all 3 books.

The Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills can be done in any direction the student wants to start in. The layout is simple the fact family number is in the middle of wheel and the student goes around the wheel preforming the correct operation. My son said he likes the Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills because they aren’t boring. He said he doesn’t like the fluency sheets that are rows after rows of facts. The speed wheels aren’t in order so they kids will practice random fact families each wheel.

So now that we have found Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills Addition, Multiplication and Division my son’s favorite way to practice his fact fluency, we are happily spreading the word about these books to friends and family. Be sure to check out the other crew’s reviews on Math Essentials Speed Wheel Drills by clicking the banner below.

Critical Thinking and Logic, Curriculum, dyslexia, Homeschool, Orton-Gillingham, Reviews

Dyslexia Gold Review !

August 4, 2021August 10, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

It it that time of year in which parents are looking for supplements to add to their students learning. One the programs we are review for the crew is Dyslexia Gold . Some of you may remember we reviewed this online platform last year. We were happy to review it again over the summer and continue to use it this upcoming school year.

Speaking of assessments that one of the great things about Dyslexia Gold student are able to take an assessment when they first log into the Dyslexia Gold student profile. Dyslexia Gold scan for reading, spelling, and fluency. There is also a dyslexia screener for students 6+ this screener is designed to screen for dyslexia indicators. The dyslexic screener is not to replace a professional screening , but it is a starting place if you may suspect your student may be dyslexic.

The parent dashboard gives you a detail report of the assessment as well as recommendations of what programs for your student to use. Dyslexia Gold is for ages 6-16. While older students can us the program the reading age test will only assess up to 11 yrs 6 months, the spelling test assess up to 16 years.

The programs within the Dyslexia Gold platform include:

Vision Training (Engaging Eyes and fun visual games)
Fluency Builder ( phonological awareness, reading fluency, and sight words)
Spelling Tutor ( dictation and grammar practice)
Times Table Tutor (flash cards, grouping, and story problems

My son enjoyed playing the visual games. I personally like these games because my son has what is called “slight lazy eye” and this program is great for him and strengthening his eye muscle. We will be using this program on a regular basis. He used the times table tutor a few times but he is pretty fluent with his multiplication so he didn’t use it as much, but I will have him hop on it once a week. Dyslexia Gold recommends students log in 2-5 times a week for 20 minutes.

The fluency builder was a nice review for phonics and reading fluency practice. My son did a few struggle with understanding word builder when needing to change words to different words. The nice thing about the spelling tutor is that it has some great educational passages for the kids to read, students are given and opportunity to read the passage non-timed and then the next screen times them when they are ready to start reading. The fluency teaches students new vocabulary words and definitions. At the end of the lessons student will review the previous lesson which I think is great because it keeps the students practicing what they have already learned.

The spelling tutor is where we spent a lot of our time. The spelling tutor is a great tool for students correct their sentence structure, spelling and grammar. The way the spelling tutor works is students here the sentence and then they write the sentence. The next screen has the students check their papers with the screen. Students are given a grammar areas of focus on while working in the spelling tutor, we worked on homophones during this review period.

We did run into some snags occasionally the program would glitch in the middle of lessons of game play. I also noticed that the reporting log-ins weren’t accurate. We logged in a few times and it didn’t record the day or it would record the following day’s date instead of the present date.

Overall I think Dyslexia Gold is a great online platform for both dyslexia and non-dyslexia students. It is a great program for reviewing and sharpening skills. Be sure to check out the rest of the crew’s reviews by clicking the banner below.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DyslexiaGold

Uncategorized

Bethany House Publishers: Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible Review!

August 1, 2021August 2, 2021 Little Learner and Mom

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

We have been on a journey of learning about world religions and I have been collecting resources I would like to consider for our upcoming world religious studies. One the resources I have been reviewing for the crew is Bethany House Publishers Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible.

Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible written by Danika Cooley helps parents navigate through teaching their children the Bible. The book hopes to inspire parents to introduce the teachings of the bible in the way children will learn ad love the lessons. Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible starts with a brief introduction and ends with a brief description of the author.

Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible is written from a Christian perspective, the book is broken down into 3 parts. Part 1 You’re the Leader in this section of the book parents will grow their confidence and knowledge in the Bible and how to present its teachings to their children. You’re the Leader also gives parents helpful strategies for time management and problem-solving.

Part 2 Faithful Reading this section is key for those who need encouragement for reading the Bible. This section also inspires parents to really study their Bibles and learn the messages so they can pass this information to their children. This section also helps the reader understand that bible is broken down into what can be called different genres like how books are organized in a library.

Part 3 A Daily Walk the last section in this book drives on families reading the bible together, studying, prayer, and really teaching the student that their faith is a way of life and requires devotion and the continued love.

Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible book is paperback and with medium print. The book is a quick read and can be used as a quick reference book for encouragement. The book offers real-life scenarios examples and how to manage these scenarios. The book offers helpful goal-setting, memorization, and organization techniques. I saw references from bible scriptures, quotes from different pastors, notes for reference, and works consulted.

I used this book for research purposes for our world religious studies unit. I did not share my research with my student. This may be a good book for a family looking to start biblical teachings with their students or need to refine their lessons.

At the time of this review, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible cost is $11.99. Be sure to check out the other crew’s reviews by clicking the banner below.