Archives for September 2013

I love board games, and so do our children. I kind of had to ban them for awhile because any time we had one, most of the pieces went missing, plus we haven’t had a kitchen table for a while now due to lack of space. I grew up playing board games often, and I’m pretty competitive. My kids have inherited my competitiveness, and 4 kids who want to win can get very loud very fast. When I heard about The Presidential Game, I was excited to try it because 1. it’s a board game, and 2. it’s a game. We LOVE games here! The kids do a lot of gaming on the Xbox, so I was anxious to let them get their hands on a physical game.

What’s Inside

• 20″ X 30″ Game Board
• 1 Score Pad
• 3 each Red and Blue Dice
• 80 Politics Cards
• 40 Write Your Own Politics Cards
• 150 Red Republican Chips
• 150 Blue Democrat Chips
• 1 Electoral Map Access Code

The Presidential Game is available for $35 plus shipping, and is recommended for ages 11+.

  The great thing about this game is that it gives your family both a chance to have fun AND to learn at the same time. Each team (Republican and Democrat) must work to win the electoral college votes. The winning team must have at least 270 electoral votes at the end of the game to win. Your family can learn a bit about how the Presidential race works, if you don’t already know.

  The instructions for The Presidential Game are quite lengthy compared to most board games I’ve seen, which in this case is a good thing. They were sort of overwhelming at first and took a bit for everyone to understand, but I think we eventually got it. The teams can decide how many weeks there are until the election, thereby deciding how long the game lasts. Each turn is considered 1 week. On each turn, each team needs to decide if it will campaign or go fundraising. The Politics Cards can be earned while fundraising, and the team can choose to play it at once or save it for later, unless the card says that it must be played immediately.

  Our kids are 12, 10, 8, and 5, so the older 2 were the perfect ages to start this game. However, we all know that most younger kids want to be in on what their older siblings are doing, at least mine do, so everyone had to play. The hardest part was everyone deciding who was on which team. I don’t think that they cared which party they were, though, just who got to be on the same team. The instructions were a bit complicated for them to understand at first, but Rachelle and Issac picked up on it quickly. I must tell you a funny story. When we received our game, the kids were anxious to get it out and get started. When they pulled out the game board, they were upset because they thought it was broken. It’s a pretty big board, so it’s one of those where some of the seams are cut to make it fold enough to fit into the box. Once they figured out how that worked, they were good to go!
  The 2 youngest didn’t really enjoy the game, but they’re a bit young for it anyway and didn’t really understand it. Rach & Issac seemed to get a kick out of it. It can be quite a lengthy game time, especially when you’re starting out and trying to get the hang of the game rules. The scoring aspect of the game can be quite confusing, so the Electoral WebMap Calculator can be pretty handy for that if you remember to use it! The game chips are an essential part of the game, so if you have very small children, you’d best try to keep them away from the game. I banned board games from the house for a long time because we had small children so often, and every time we tried to have a board game, a bunch of pieces would go missing. This is the first board game we’ve had in a long while, and I’m pretty sure that we still have all the game pieces. Win!
  I like that The Presidential Game is both fun and a learning experience. The 2 oldest kids have enjoyed playing it quite a bit. I would love to see an Independent party option added to the game, although there are Independent hats for sale on the website as well. Be sure to click below to read reviews from my fellow Crew Members!

 Most of y’all know that I LOVE cookbooks. Love.them. I’m sort of starting a collection for when I can have a bookshelf in my kitchen. WOO!

  Anyhow, I’ve become pretty interested in real foods in recent years. By real food, I mean pure, unadulterated, unprocessed food. Not Velveeta, Spam, Hamburger Helper, but real foods that are rich in nutrition and quality. Even if you’re not new to the real food world, I’m sure you could still use some yummy new recipes to add to your collection! That’s where the Traditional Recipes Bundle comes in! This spendiferous e-book bundle contains 17 books, and includes over 800 recipes, and is worth more than $150. This sale runs for 5 days, from today through Saturday September 21. There will absolutely be NO late sales! Here are the details!

*Lots of allergy-friendly books (half or more are GF/CF)
*Books to teach you to cook with what you have on hand
*Meal planning
*Snacks on the go
*Freezer cooking
*Printable recipe cards
*Health benefits of various foods
*Healthy desserts
*Gourmet meals
*Simple, everyday meals
*Make-your-own sauces and condiments
*…and so much more!
There is truly something for everyone. It is a really amazing and well-rounded collection, too. There are books for dinner, books for snacks, books for breakfast, books for gourmet cooks (not too many), books for brand-new cooks, books to teach you to make your own condiments, books for smoothies…. You name it!If you’re a beginning cook, new to real food, or just tired of the “same old” for dinner, this is an entire library of how-to-cook just about anything (including plenty of bonus information on kitchen tools, techniques, pantry staples, meal planning, and more).
What’s the Deal?
A collection like this might run you over $100. In fact, the actual value of this collection is around $150.But next week, for five days only, it will be only $14.97. The sale dates are Sept. 17 (Tuesday) through Sept. 21 (Saturday). The sale begins at 9 AM EST on Tuesday, and ends at 11:59 PM on Saturday night. There will be no late sales.Many of these books are brand-new, and have never been included in a bundle before. Out of the 17 books, 10 have never been in other collections. This means that if you choose to purchase, you won’t be getting “the same old” stuff. It was important to me to put together a unique bundle.I trust the authors that I chose to include, and I spent months looking and selected very carefully. There are bloggers out there whom I respect and enjoy, but whose books I chose not to include. These are new, unique, and totally real food. Some of the bloggers may be unfamiliar to you but I have worked with all of them in some capacity and I am eager to share their books and their recipes with you. I’ve even tested some of their recipes!This is also a smaller collection and at a lower price point. There have been other bundles before…plenty of them. I listened to the feedback my readers gave me when I promoted them. They asked for: smaller/less overwhelming collection, lower price, and more focused. That’s exactly what this bundle is.
What’s In the Bundle?
You might be wondering, what exactly is in the bundle, anyway? Let me tell you all about it.

Kitchen Help
Cooking With Coconut Oil by Jennifer Saleem of Hybrid Rasta Mama (68 delicious recipes featuring coconut oil)
Design a Dish by Millie Copper of Real Food for Less Money (6 basic formulas for creating recipes with what you have)
Restocking the Pantry by Kresha Faber of Nourishing Joy (57 sauces, condiments, and more)
Real Food, Real Easy by Angela Montgomery of Real Whole Health (13 frugal, easy recipes)
Real Food for Real Homemakers by Jami Balmet of Young Wife’s Guide, Jaimie Ramsey of Living In the Light and Elsie Callender of Richly Rooted (78 basic recipes + printables + how-to-anything in the kitchen — NEW!)

Main Dishes

7 Day Real Food Meal Plan by Roxanne King of The Holistic Mama (7 days of a plan, complete with 38 recipes for 3 meals a day, all GF/CF)
Much Ado About Chicken by Debra Worth of Sweet Kisses and Dirty Dishes (52 delicious allergy-friendly chicken-based meals, GF, NEW!)
Stretchy Beans by KerryAnn Foster of Intentionally Domestic (13 frugal, bean-based meals, GF/CF, NEW!)
Divine Dinners by Lydia Joy Shatney of Divine Health From the Inside Out (92 gourmet dinners, sides, soups, and more, GF)

Snacks and Sides

The Veggie Book by Danielle Tate of More Than Four Walls, Sara Shay of Your Thriving Family and Debra Worth of Sweet Kisses and Dirty Dishes (52 recipes featuring 10 different vegetables, creatively; GF, NEW!)
Healthy Snacks to Go by Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship (40 classic snack recipes that are travel- and lunch box-friendly)
Steeped by Katie Stanley of Nourishing Simplicity (56 recipes for tea treats like cakes, scones, sandwiches, tea, and more; GF, NEW!)
Toadally Primal Smoothies by Primal Toad of Primal Toad (150 unique smoothie recipes, primal/paleo)

Desserts, Baking and Special Occasions

Festive Traditions by Jill Marks of Modern Alternative Kitchen (32 holiday and special occasion recipes)
Treat Yourself: Real Food Desserts by Kate Tietje of Modern Alternative Mama (30 delicious, healthy desserts)
Sourdough Goodness by Anna Drozdova of Thought For Real Food (13 sourdough recipes, NEW!)
Travel Foods by KerryAnn Foster of Intentionally Domestic (13 recipes that go with you easily, NEW!)
As you can see, there are many amazing selections in here, possibly some you’ve had your eye on. In this collection, you can get them all for 90% off.
Is There More?
Actually, there is more. :)We’ll be offering a few bonus items that anybody who purchases the bundle will get.
A coupon code for Real Salt
A coupon code for Wise Choice Market
A free premium trial membership to Tradishen
Simple Natural Health, by Nina of Shalom Mama
…and more (we’re still talking to a few excellent companies!)

We’ll also be offering a giveaway (and no purchase is required to enter) of a $75 “Healthy” size Healthy Surprise box.By the way, if you are in the real food business and would like to sponsor a giveaway or a bonus offer for this sale, send me an email! We can take companies through Saturday. It’s a great way to expose new, motivated readers to your business! [email protected]. So, that’s the deal. 17 great books, over 800 recipes, for just $14.97 — plus four or more great bonus offers and a chance to win a Healthy Surprise box. The only catch is that the sale only lasts for five days, Sept. 17 – 21.I really tried hard to put together a collection that would be valuable to as many readers as possible. I hope that you’re looking forward to this as much as I am. Don’t forget to join us Tuesday at 9 AM to get your copy!
Which book(s) intrigue you the most?

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And I’m super sad-face about it. I’m not ashamed, either. I LOVE Summertime weather! I love the warm (okay, hot) air, the awesome sunshine, gardening, and the birds singing. I do not like wasps, however. Those are bad. Butterflies are awesomesauce, too.

We started “not back to school” during the first full week of August. This is the second year I’ve made a real set schedule for our school year, and since we started back so early, we get our first break early! We’ll be going 6 weeks on and 1 week off, except this first break will be 2 weeks off. The kids have worked really hard so far this year, and I’m so proud of them.  Rachelle’s math skills are improving, and I have A+TutorSoft Math to thank for that. Math doesn’t have to make you cry, and she doesn’t cry with math anymore! Code CFAMILY gets you a 20% discount, FYI. ANd right now through September 21st, the yearly math option is on sale, so that sale combined with my code gets you a year of math for about $60. That’s a great deal!
Issac is leaning more towards an interest in science. He loves all things weather, animals and hunting, etc. This week we’re planning to take a tour of a local news station, which of course includes the weather area. I can’t wait to see his face when we go. I’m hoping I can take pictures while we’re there. 😀
Ethan keeps improving in his reading skills, which I’m thrilled with. We participate in Pizza Hut’s Book-It! reading program, so I’m hoping this’ll entice him to learn even more, and I’m hoping by year’s end he’ll be even better.
Lucas is almost 5, so I’m waiting another year before officially considering him Kindergarten level. I just really feel he’s way too immature right now. However, we are working on letter sounds and some writing. He can already recognize numbers 0-9, and some letters. Writing is still kinda hit or miss with him.

One good thing about the passing time is we are getting closer and closer to a major blessing. I’m so excited about it, but I can’t really divulge details right now. I’m about to bust, but I must wait.

  Do you know the type of personality that you possess? How well do you know yourself? How well do you know your spouse and children? Do you know their personality types? If you’re not sure of your personality type, do you think it would make a difference to you if you knew the personality types of you, your spouse, and children? PeopleKeys is a company with over 25 years experience that offers personality assessments for both businesses and educational use that is based on their DISC Personality system. DISC stands for Drive, Influence, Steady, and Compliant. For this review, I was sent the Personality Style Workbook, which is a 17-page workbook geared for ages 13-18, and retails for $13 by itself.

  I actually used this workbook for myself. I’ve never taken any sort of personality assessment before, and I thought it would be interesting to see what I discovered about myself. The workbook begins by discussing what personality styles are, and why they’re important. From the workbook:

Our primary style can tell us a great deal about how we are motivated, what environment we prefer, our biggest fears, how we like to communicate and how we like others to communicate to us.

 Understanding your personality style will allow you to improve your communication skills, resolve and prevent conflicts, appreciate others’ differences, and gain credibility and positive influence.

  Next is the Personality Questionnaire. This is a set of 15 questions each with 4 answers. To answer the questions, numbers 1-4 are used to decide which traits are most like you, often like you, occasionally like you, and least like you. 15 questions do not sound like much, but you really need to sit and think about some of these. For me, some were cut and dry, while others I needed to really consider before I chose my answers.
  After the questionnaire, you need to calculate your score. The personality styles are illustrated with a DISC graph. The workbook clearly explains how to graph your scores. Next, you’ll discover just exactly what DISC measures. These descriptions are pretty detailed. For example, my main personality is D, which measure how a  person would solve a problem or respond to challenges. I’m more likely to make a decision quickly and on the spot rather than researching first. High Ds are also quick to anger, which unfortunately, describes me perfectly. My “secondary” personality is a C, which measures how someone responds to rules and regulations. For me, I scored just barely over the number that I needed to include it in my personality style. Only 3% of the population is considered a D personality style. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Ha! The book says that the greatest fear of a D type is being taken advantage of. This is something I used to worry about a lot, but then once I had children, I learned to stand up for myself, so while it’s something that does still concern me, it’s not as big an issue for me now. Oddly enough, looking at my DISC graph, I find that the lower 3 personality style for me were all within a close range to each other, so I seem to be a good mix.
  After seeing your traits, you’ll go to the Personality System Overview. This is 2 pages of lists, and each page covers 2 personalities, so you can go through even further to see which characteristics are most and least like you. This covers General Characteristics, Strengths, Potential Limitations, Greatest Fear, Motivations, and Ideal Environment. Just when you think you’re going deep, the next 4 pages are even more in-depth in each personality style, and cover what other people might like about us, and might make them want to run far, far away.
  After that, you’ll see how each personality style  goes about approaching tasks. Do you want quick, fun, easy, or correct? You’ll also learn how to improve communication with each personality style.
  Finally, the last 2 pages are a fill-in chart for you to fill in to help enhance your own relationships with family, friends, co-workers, or others you are close with. With this chart, you list their names, their characteristics, try to guess their primary style, list your characteristics, your personality style (easy, you have this by now!), and how you can improve this relationship and hopefully reduce conflict.

  Y’all, I really enjoyed doing this workbook. It’s shown me how crazy I am how much my husband really loves me, and wow, how patient he is, and which of my personality traits I really need to work on (which apparently is most of them. Lord help us all). I love the page for improving your communication skills with each personality type. It gives you lots of good suggestions on how to go about your style of speaking to people with a different personality style than yourself.
  Be sure to click below to read reviews from my fellow Crew Members. Some received the same item as I, and others received other products from PeopleKeys.

  Our youngest child, Lucas, is 4 (nearly 5!), and is at the age where when everyone else is doing their schoolwork, he wants some work to do as well. Ah, if only they would stay that eager when they’re older! As of now, he does really well with number recognition, and okay with some letter recognition. Reading is the most important skill to learn, in my opinion, because once you can read, you can most anything. Logic of English is a program that offers a multi-sensory approach to reading and writing, and is based on 74 basic phonograms, and 30 spelling rules. These phonograms and spelling rules are said to explain 98% of  English words. Wow, that’s an enormous amount!
  Denise Eide is the author of Logic of English, and is herself a homeschool mom and ESL teacher. The program began when her own children were struggling to learn to read and spell. Once she came across the Orton-Gillingham method, she discovered a whole new path to reading and spelling. Upon Googling for myself, I discovered that the Orton-Gillingham method was developed in the early 20th century by Samuel Orton and Anne Gillingham. This method is a multi-sensory, language-based, sequential, and flexible method to learning reading and writing. Denise and her husband Nathan have dedicated themselves, and also received support from Nathan’s parents. It’s always great when we have backup, isn’t it?!

  For this review, I was given the Foundations Level A, for beginning readers, or ages 4-7, so I used the curriculum with Lucas, who’s nearly 5 now! With Level A, students learn to read and write lowercase letters a-z, and also read short vowel words and consonant blends with fun games and activities.  I received:

• Foundations A Teacher’s Manual ~ $38
• Manuscript Workbook ~ $18
• Basic Phonogram Flash Cards~ $18
• Red Manuscript Phonogram Game Cards ~ $10
• Red Manuscript Tactile Cards ~ $28
• Blue-Bookface Phonogram Game Cards ~ $10
• Student Whiteboard ~ $12
• The Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Chart ~ $10

  I’ll admit that when I opened the package and saw everything, I was pretty overwhelmed at how many items there were. Lucas and I were both pretty excited to get started with Logic of English. He especially loved the artwork in both his workbook and my teacher’s manual, and of course the huge whiteboard was a big hit with him as well!
What it’s About
  The Foundation’s Level A Teacher’s Manual is 209 pages, and includes 40 lessons. There is a Scope & Sequence at the start of the book, as well as a list of needed supplies and general information about the program. Here you can see the list of phonograms and their various sounds.

Each lesson in the Teacher’s manual is several pages, generally between 4-6.  The lessons cover phonemic awareness and handwriting, and are broken up into several activities. For example, Lesson 2 begins with kinesthetic sound awareness which discusses whether sounds are voiced or unvoiced, followed by compound words. The Handwriting segment reviews some of lesson 1, and includes learning letter-making strokes, reviewing previous ones learned, air writing, and writing on the whiteboard and in the workbook worksheet. The page margins also include quite a few ideas for the lessons such as book lists, multi-sensory tips like using different manipulatives, and teacher tips. Each lesson beginning contains a list of objectives as well as a list of needed materials for that lesson. The teacher’s manual is a very nice and sturdy hardcover, which I love.The pages are very sturdy as well, and the lessons are very well written, detailed, and easy to understand, and each teaching activity is broken down into easy to teach steps.

  The Foundations Level A Manuscript Workbook (same link as above) is a consumable workbook with lots of colorful activity pages. The pages can be left in the book, or are easily torn out.

  There are even some fun “board” games to cut out and play! I quote board because, well, it’s paper, but you could certainly make it more durable by gluing the sheets to card stock and laminating the game “boards” and game pieces. The game instructions are included in the teacher’s manual.
  The lesson pages contain picture activities, as well as handwriting practice lines. Instructions on how to complete these are also in the teacher’s manual lessons. I won’t lie, sometimes Lucas would open the book and just start doing whatever because he didn’t want to wait for his slow Mama to give hi instructions. Little stinker!

  The Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Chart is a great reference chart for reviewing  letter strokes. Explicit instructions are listed for each letter, and they’re grouped and color-coded by letter stroke style (ie straight letters, drop-swoop, down, roll, slant, kick, and cross). The chart is laminated which I love, because my kids are so hard on their things. I did initially receive the cursive chart by mistake, but was quickly sent the correct one.

  The Basic Phonogram Flash Cards contain the 74 basic phonograms, and include some letter blends along with rules for each blend.  These are a nice, large-sized set of cards that are sturdy and easy to handle. The dimensions on these are 4.5” x 6’.
  The Red Manuscript Phonogram Game Cards are smaller in size at 2.25” x 3.5”,, and also contain the 74 basic phonograms, as well as 15 more cards to make the card games even more fun and engaging.  The Blue-Bookface cards are the same as the red manuscript, except the letters are blue.
  The Manuscript Tactile Cards are the same size as the Basic Phonogram Flash Cards. These cards are really neat! The phonograms are raised with a sandpaper texture, and let students practice writing with their fingers. They also give instructions as to how to form each phonogram or stroke. Lucas loves these cards, but I can’t stand rubbing sandpaper, so they skeeve me out a little.

  The Student Whiteboard was the biggest hit of all with Lucas. It’s a great size at 11’ X 16”, and is perfect for either sitting at the table to write, or having it on the student’s lap to write. I can tell it’s good and sturdy, because it’s not gotten broken, yet. Once side has a larger handwriting chart, and the other side has smaller and 6 lines for more detailed writing such as words and phrases.

 How it Worked for Us
  When I initially sat down to look over the lessons, I noticed there is quite a bit of reading and instruction to give. At first, I did try to sit down with Lucas and do one lesson in a day, but it’s really too much for him to do at one time. He’s 4, and I really can’t expect him to sit in one place for that long. I’d say it took at least an hour to try to complete the lesson, and he started getting pretty antsy. So, I decided to break up each lesson into at least 2 days, if not more, depending on his attitude for the day. I like how the early lessons explain the letter strokes, but it was really hard for Lucas to grasp that information. He had a difficult time matching the strokes, especially on the worksheets. The whiteboard was easy for him to work on. He did easily grasp the aspect of voiced and unvoiced sounds and the lines on the writing charts. He did learn some letter sounds, but writing letters is still pretty iffy with him. I think the key is to make this work and fit to your child’s needs. Older children would likely be able to complete one lesson per day, but I don’t think younger children will, and that’s okay. I may even try some lesson with Ethan since he has trouble still with some blends.
  Overall, I do like Logic of English. I like how the lessons are broken down and how easy they are to teach. It can seem overwhelming at first, but I plan to stick with it until we complete Level A. The price isn’t too bad, in my opinion, and some of the supplements can be reused for more than one level. If you have a beginning or struggling reader, I do recommend you check out Logic of English.

Be sure to click below and read review from my fellow Crew Members. Other members received Foundations Level A, or other products from Logic of English.

 Most parents have probably heard of Time4Learning by now. Time4Learning is an online program that provides students with technology-based, student-paced curriculum for grades PreK- high school. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum for homeschooling families, or for after-school work and summer enrichment for those in public school. The cost of Time4Learning is $19.95 per month for one student, and $14.95 for each additional student in grades PreK-8. For high school students, the cost is $30 per month. Schoolhouse Crew members received a 6 month membership for the purpose of this review. We reviewed the 3rd grade.

  The subjects that Time4Learning provides are Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Once you choose your child’s base grade level, you also get access to work in both the grade above that, and the grade below, so you can ease their load, or challenge them more if needed. As the Parent Admin, you have lots of options in your “back office” area of the website. You’ll have access to Time4Learning’s spelling word lists, Language Arts reading lists, science lessons supply list, changing your child’s grade level, making your account dormant for vacation or other purposes, and an activity scheduler.

  There are also adjustable timer settings, where you can set your child’s minimum time spent on each lesson, and the maximum time they can spend “at the playground,” which is a fun game area kids can play after they finish their work. Each timer goes up to a maximum of 59 minutes. The default timer is set to 15 minutes.

  If you wish to use it, the Activity Scheduler allows you to plan our your child’s school year work yourself. You simply choose which child you’re working with, the start and end date, which subjects you want to include, which activities (learning, worksheets, test, and quizzes), and you can plan by the year, or plan by first and last chapters for each subject. I chose not to do any real planning, because I am not a detailed planner, and this would just stress me out.  Time4Learning also keeps track of times that activities, lessons, and quizzes are completed, as well as grades! I really like the automatic grading aspect.
  For the parent resources, such as spelling lists, Science supply lists, and the reading lists, you can view quite a lot of grade levels for those. You can view K-8 spelling lists, grades 1-8 reading lists, and grades 3-6 Science supply lists. These lists are in PDF format and easily printable.
  The Playground area contains 6 game categories: Action, Kid Places, Activities, 2 Player Games, Puzzlers, and Educational Games. There is a running timer in the upper-right corner so the student knows how time they have left to play games.
 Depending on your grade level, you child will either log into the Upper or Lower Level Login, and a new window will pop up for them to work on. Your student can then choose which subject to work on first, or they can view their portfolio of the work they’ve completed.

 Here’s the Grammar area of the LA Extensions.

  As you can see, it delves a little further into specific areas of Language Arts. When a certain subject area is completed, it is marked by a green check mark. You can see here what has been completed in the Language Arts section so far.

  Each lesson has a set number of activities to complete, and those will vary. Some of the passages are narrated aloud, and some your child will read on his/her own. The student will do more self-reading for Science and Social Studies.
  The Science portion covers Scientific Investigation, Nature of Matter, Energy, Effects on the Shape of Earth, Ecology, Light & Sound, Astronomy, Eras on Earth, and Life/Environment Interact.
  The Social Studies portion covers Vikings, Alaskan Inuits, The World on Spatial Terms, Exploration of the Americas, North American Colonization, Economics, Citizenship & Government, Chronology, and Rural, Suburban, and Urban Region.
  The Math portion covers Number Theory, Adding & Subtracting, Multiplication and Division, Fractions & Decimals, Money, Patterns, Algebra, Time, Probability, Metric-System, Problem Solving, Properties of Shapes, Coordinate Geometry, Transformations & Symmetry, Customary System, Perimeter & Area, and Display & Interpret Data.
  The Language Arts portion covers Vocabulary Skills, Think Aloud Process Skills, Comprehension, Text Features, Point of View, Compare & Contrast, Family, Community, Friendship, Tall Tales, Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, and Animals.

  Time4Learning is very flexible and child-friendly. Your child can even personalize their page color! The site is very colorful and engaging. For the duration of the review period, Ethan used Time4Learning as his base work. He worked through each day’s work in only about an hour, so I had him do other work as well to flesh out his day, such as writing and copy work, and of course our Bible reading. He did each subject and lesson in order to keep things simple. He is improving in his reading, but still struggling, so I did have to help him with some of the reading portions.

  I personally like what Time4Learning has to offer. For Ethan, though, it was hit or miss on whether or not he liked it. Some days were better than others. Because of how fast he worked through the days, I’d maybe recommend this more as a supplement instead of a full base curriculum. With that being said, I would not use this for all 4 of my children at once, as the cost would be around $65 per month, which is way out of my budget. I am pleased with the subjects covered and the lessons. I really like the automated grading, worksheets, and the lists available in the parent section as well.
  Be sure to click below and read reviews from my fellow Crew members!