This month, we have been using Sampson’s Classroom Reading Software. This program is an online subscription that gives you access to three different Sampson’s Classroom programs- Reading with Sampson, Sight Words with Sampson, and Spelling with Sampson.

Since this is a reading program, before I get into the details of Sampson’s Classroom, I want to give you an idea of the student I am using this program with. I have a 6.5 year old new reader. He can read things like “The Foot Book” and “Little Bear” with no problem, but still struggles to read something like “Magic Tree House” independently. Sampson’s Classroom is recommended for children grades K-5.

The Programs

Sight Words with Sampson

This program is the favorite in our house. Sampson’s Classroom says “This engaging product is proven to help early readers master the 224 most commonly used words in the English language.”

Bug does find it “engaging”- this is the game he comes back to play over and over again. The sight words are broken down into wordlists, and then each list has 5 steps with different games to help the child master the words. These games include activities like completing the sentence with the words, typing the words out, and building them from limited choices on the screen.

My favorite part about the sight words program is the Resource Center. The membership comes with many printable lesson plans and PDF games and worksheet. I like that I can reinforce the things Bug is learning online with the downloadable games and worksheets, he remembers so much better when we can be working on paper as well as on the computer. There are fill in the blank pages, word scrambles, and so many more worksheets. There are also printable flashcards and games to go along with the sight word lists.

Bug preferred this game because it provided just enough challenge to him without being too hard. I would say it is very appropriate for kids in grades K-2.

Spelling with Sampson

Sampson’s Classroom says “With more than 5,000 words and counting, Spelling with Samson is the most comprehensive spelling product on the market.” Spelling with Sampson is nice because you (the teacher) can put in your own spelling list of up to 30 words. Multiple lists can be made at once, so I can enter all our lists at one time, and simply tell the child which list I want him to work off. I loved how I could adapt this program to reinforce our other curriculum. All the words I entered were available in the data base, and they have a way to submit a word to be added if the word you need is not there. The program reads the word aloud, and in a complete sentence. I was impressed that it was not a robotic voice, but a very pleasant voice reading the spelling words and sentences.

Spelling with Sampson has three spelling games for the child to choose from:

Missing letters– This game has a Karate theme. Bug liked it because it was low stress. Even when he got the answers wrong, the character does something funny… he is unable to karate chop through the wood, so he bonks his head, or hurts his elbow… which made my son laugh.

Crunch Time– The child needs to type in the spelling word while racing against the clock. Again, the graphics are silly, which kept Bug laughing, even when he struggled to spell the word quickly enough.

Spelling Scramble– On this game, the character has to run away from a spider while collecting the letters needed to build spelling words.

These games were more challenging than the Sight Words with Sampson program, and I would say they are appropriate for 2-5^th grade children.

Reading with Sampson

Sampson’s Classroom says their reading program “helps students analyze reading material and learn how to draw conclusions and answer questions based on that material.” Bug was not ready for this portion of Sampson’s Classroom.

There are 4 levels in the reading program. In the first a level, the child is asked to read a story of about 4 paragraphs (with no pictures or other visual “clues”), and then are asked to answer questions about it. The passage is always available for the child to read while they are answering questions. If the answer is wrong on the first try, the relevant section is highlighted for the child to be able to find the answer more easily. By the 4^th level, the stories are much longer, and are more complicated.

I feel like this part of the program would be appropriate for a child reading at about a 3^rd-5^th grade reading level.

In a Nutshell- We have been enjoying Sampson’s Classroom. Bug has asked to play the sight words program daily, and even Mr. Man gets in on the fun laughing at the Missing Letters spelling game. The site is easy to navigate, and progress is tracked on the parent screen so I can always see where Bug is in the program and how is he doing. When I did need help setting up the spelling list, I was able to find “how to” videos and was able to get all my questions answered.  I feel like this program would be of most value in a home with multiple school age children!

A year subscription costs 30 dollars for one student, or 50 for a family subscription (up to 4 students). Something I always like with a new program- You can play demo games without setting up an account if you want to try before you buy!

 

Disclaimer- I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine. Click the Link above for more Crew Reviews.

Earlier this year, Hubby and I bought a digital piano with the intention of bringing some music into our home. We had good intentions, I can read music moderately well, and He can play “okay” for someone who has never done lessons. We figured with a beginner’s book, and some patience, the two of us could figure out how to teach our kids to play.

Despite all our good intentions, that didn’t work out. Luckily for me, KinderBach came to the rescue!

What is KinderBach?

KinderBach- Simply Discover Piano is an online program with video lessons and PDF workbooks. By the end of the 240 lessons (60 weeks of instruction) a KinderBach student “will have a strong musical foundation that he/she will be able to use as a springboard to any music instrument.  Your child will:

1. Know all the notes on the piano by location and letter name
2. Be familiar with the grand staff,
3. Read some individual notes on staff and all notes by pattern on staff,
4. Understand and read rhythms from eighth to whole notes,
5. Have improved listening skills so that he/she can interpret rhythms, intervals and patterns heard.
6. Play familiar melodies,
7. Play hands together or separately,
8. Have a working music vocabulary,
9. Understand basic composition methods”

KinderBach is so much more than just playing the piano. I feel like this program is giving my children a fantastic foundation in music, and will open so many doors to them. Not only are they learning songs on the piano, they are learning music theory, and more importantly, a love for music.

KinderBach is available in many different formats, as an online program, an app for mobile devices, and as DVDs. My family used the online program. Each daily lesson includes a video and a worksheet page. It takes us 10-15 minutes a day to complete a lesson.

Our Experience

A screenshot of the KinderBach program- the videos also open up to full screen

When Bug is using the program at the piano, I opened it on our tablet, so the tablet could sit on the music stand, and he could watch the videos as he played along. The videos have a high re-play value so some days, I also streamed the lessons on our TV so all the kids could just watch the videos. The videos are very high quality and engaging. Each lesson has interesting characters to present the information, so they really held the attention of my kids. Since they cover more than just the mechanics of playing a piano, they were still useful for all the kids.

I like how you can watch the lessons as often as you want, and in any order. Bug liked to sit down at the piano and just “play” lesson after lesson when he wanted to, and could go back and see his favorites again. I would play his daily lesson for him, and then work on the workbook page, but then I would let him watch any of the videos he wanted.

The downloadable PDF worksheets that help reinforce the lessons learned that day. I really like this component because it provided a way for me to review information with Bug even if I hadn’t been able to sit with him when he was doing his lesson. We were then able to practice the concepts together outside of his time at the keyboard with the videos.

A Sample Worksheet Page

Something I Loved

Bug is on the piano as I type this, working with KinderBach. He really has developed a love of music. He also has found confidence when he sits down at the piano. When we first began trying to teach him piano, too often he felt frustrated and became impatient and discouraged.

KinderBach helps avoid this frustration by “breaking down the various tasks and techniques of playing the keyboard and separates them into child portions.  For example:  Before playing a song, rhythm, note identification, note placement, and music patterns are presented as different items through discussion and games.  Learning is gradual and child-paced.  In addition KinderBach uses fun characters to teach ideas, making the process entertaining.”

The engaging characters and short lessons have held his attention and kept music fun. Now, he is more open to practicing, and enjoys showing me what he has learned.

Product Details

KinderBach is recommended for children from the ages of 3 to 7. I can see a slightly older child using and enjoying the program as well. Since you can select which week and lessons you want to play, it is easy to use a KinderBach membership with multiple children. There are no limits on how many times you print the PDF workbooks. One subscription works for the entire family!

The online subscription to KinderBach is available for 19.99 a month, or a full year for 95.88 (60 % savings over a monthly subscription). You can also try the first two weeks of lessons free to see if KinderBach is a good fit for your family.

KinderBach also has an App available. Click on the crew banner below to read more reviews, both of the online program, and the App.

Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

The Products

This month, The TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew has been lucky enough to review products for Beeyoutiful, a company that promotes “Healthy Living for the Real World”. It’s been wonderful to review something meant to give ME a boost, when too often as a homeschooling mother, my health and appearance get put on the back burner. I was given four of Beeyoutiful’s Skin and Hair care products to try.

Laveshmint Hydrating Toner

Beeyoutiful describes this product as “the ultimate culmination of clean refreshment.” It includes “a unique blend of lavender and peppermint essential oils to cool sunburns, cleanse wounds, and uplift your countenance.”

When I spray this on my face, my skin feels immediately cooler. After a few seconds, it feels tingly, and slightly tighter. The scent does not linger on my face, and smells more like the lavender then the mint so I can use it any time of the day. It only takes a few seconds to use, but seems to make a huge difference in my skin’s texture.

In doing my research for this review, I had to look up what exactly IS a toner, since it has not been a constant part of my skin care regiment in the past. There are a few different products that tend to get lumped into the “toner” category, which also include astringents. Astringents contain alcohol, which can leave your skin feeling uncomfortably tight and dry, but the Laveshmint toner contains NO alcohol, and will not dry out your skin. The Laveshmint Hydrating toner leaves my skin soft, tingly, slightly tighter, and feeling moisturized.

Laveshmint Hydrating Toner is available at Beeyoutiful for $14

Laveshmint Daily Moisturizing Lotion

The description for this product says it is “a soothing facial moisturizer that hydrates and heals with the power of pure Aloe Vera” and is  “scented with peppermint and lavender essential oils to bring cool relaxation while aloe and coconut oils smooth and nourish skin.”

This lotion has a mousse-like texture. It is very lightweight, and a very little bit goes far. The mint scent of this product is much stronger then the lavender scent, and can be overwhelming to me, so I only use this product in the mornings. One downside of this product is that it does not provide any protection from the sun. I needed to wear a second product to protect my skin from sun damage. The tingle it leaves on my skin is very pleasant (and surprising in a moisturizer!) and helps me wake up when I am dragging.

This product is very moisturizing without being greasy. I think this product would work really well for someone with dry skin who isn’t very sensitive to stronger scents.

Laveshmint Moisturizing Lotion is available from Beeyoutiful for $12.

Vanilla Dream Body Butter

The description of this product makes my mouth water. The Vanilla Dream Body Butter contains “Shea butter, vanilla-infused oils of coconut, olive and grapeseed, grapefruit seed extract, essential oil of ylang ylang and vanilla plantifolia.”

This lotion smells fantastic. The scent is light and clean. The texture of this is not like a regular lotion or crème, but instead is more solid in the jar (for example, if I turn the jar upside down, the product would not move at all). This makes it a little more difficult to get it out, but I use it primarily for my hands, so I only need a very small amount.

I am normally very sensitive to greasy hand lotions, and don’t typically use them. The Vanilla Dream Body Butter doesn’t leave my hands feeling greasy at all, instead they just feel smooth and silky. The smooth, silky feeling lasts much longer than other lotions I have tried, without any greasy residue at all. The description of this product talks about it having healing properties, I was surprised at how quickly this product made a difference in the dry, cracked skin on my hands.

Vanilla Dream Body Butter is available from Beeyoutiful for $15.

Hair Shine Spray-In Conditioner

This shine spray is an “organic blend of aloe and essential oils of lavender, rosemary, and citrus… The lavender is an especially hard worker in the mixture. It enhances body in your hair and is a major contributor to Hair Shine’s detangling and softening qualities.” The scent of this spray is to die for, it smells like summer, and lavender fields. It is so refreshing and yummy!

The descriptions states it can be used as a detangler, a shine enhancer, a body spray, to treat sunburns and bugbites…. This product is easily my favorite of the four Beeyoutiful products I tried because it is so versatile. Since it is a natural product, I have no hesitation to use it on my one year old daughter’s hair- I have used it to help me comb it when it is tangled, and to help keep her hair smooth when I want to put it up in ponytails. Her hair is still very baby fine, but the shine spray can still help me get it smooth without making it greasy, and without exposing her to harsh chemicals.

It is also useful on my very thick, coarse hair that becomes tangled easily. Most shine sprays leaves my hair too greasy so I am unable to use them, but Beeyoutiful’s shine spray isn’t greasy at all. I have used it as a detangler and leave in conditioner right out of the shower, and also take it with me when I go out, so I can get the knots out of the underside of my hair easily throughout the day.

Because I have it with me, I regularly use it as a body spray and a substitute for lotion when I am in a hurry. It moisturizes my skin quickly and easily. I even have sprayed it on the boys when they scuff their knees when we are out playing. The product helps make those little scuffs disappear and cools their skin. This one little bottle can be used for so many things!

Hair Shine Spray in Conditioner is available from Beeyoutiful for $15

In a nutshell

All the products I used were high quality, and lived up to their descriptions on the website. The hair shine spray was my favorite because it can be used with many members of my family, and doesn’t leave my hair or skin greasy- which is something I have never found before in a hair shine product. On top of amazing products, this company supports values I find important.

“Beeyoutiful skin products contain NO Parabens, Formaldehyde, Petroleum derived ingredients or SLS Detergents. They are all manufactured in the USA using pure, all natural ingredients. No testing done on animals. All testing personally done by Beeyoutiful Staff and family.”

Disclaimer: I received these products free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine. Click the Review Crew Banner above to read more Beeyoutiful Products Crew Reviews

For the last few weeks, my family has been enjoying Music Together’s Family Favorites Songbook as part of our homeschool day.

Music Together says that “Music Together classes are based on the recognition that all children are musical. All children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning.” I’ve seen my children grow in the last few weeks, and really have gained confidence in their musical abilities as they have learned to keep a beat, make music instead of just noise, and sing along with the songs.

What you get- About the CD and the Songbook
We received the Music Together Family Favorites Songbook for Teachers, as well as the companion CD. This songbook contains 19 of the most popular songs from Music Together’s collection. Each song featured has a section in the songbook full of ideas and activities for the teacher to use to develop rhythm, movement skills, singing and listening skills, and to encourage a love of music through play. This CD and songbook is award winning, and it doesn’t take long to see why.

When I first opened this package, I was immediately impressed with the quality of the products. The songbook printed on high quality, thick, glossy paper in full color. It is beautifully laid out, with pictures, graphics and easy to read fonts. That isn’t important to some people, but to me, the presentation is a big deal, and this book feels nice in your hands, and is easy on the eyes.

I popped the CD into my computer and was again impressed. The music recording is very high quality. All the voices on the CD are pleasant to listen to, and there is a lot of variation in the types of instruments, tempo and themes of the songs.

How we used Music Together-

I started by playing the CD in the car, over and over for the first week or so. I wanted the kids to get familiar with all the songs before I started “music time” during our school day. The kids love listening to the CD and picked up the songs pretty quickly. There is a good mix of adults and children singing on the CD, so it really didn’t take much coaching to get the boys singing along. They aren’t normally kids who sing along (which doesn’t make sense to me, because I sing along to everything all the time) but this CD really got them interested.

Little Man has always loved music- His guitar became an important part of our Music Together time. He can strum along with a beat now!

While they were learning the songs, I took some time to read over the suggestions in the songbook for activities to do with each song. For example, one of our favorite songs in the book is “Biddy Biddy” which is a rendition of a Jamaican folk song.  The songbook discusses how this is a “classic egg shaker” song and gives many suggestions for how to tap egg shakers, and different movements that can be done with them. In the same lesson, there are suggestions for singing with different vowel and consonant sounds, animal sounds, naming body parts, large movements, small movements, and ideas for helping the kids have a wonderful “musical experience”.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it really helped me find ways to incorporate all the kids into music time. Each song has suggestions on how to include infants, and activities that are appropriate to do with them. Miss Em has loved banging on a “drum”, shaking shakers, bouncing on my lap, and dancing to the music in this program. I’ve loved to have her be a part of our school day.

Miss Em even looks girly banging on her drum. She loved participating during our Music Together time.

This book is written to be used in many different settings. It has suggestions for being used with a large group, but is very easy to be adapted to use within a family. I was concerned at first because I can’t play guitar or piano, and was worried it would be difficult to “lead” these lessons without them. You could just sing all the songs and do the activities along with the CD, but the lessons suggest modifying the songs, or doing different movements, which really requires singing the songs repeatedly.

I quickly realized this really wasn’t an issue, because the kids learned the songs so well in the car that they are able to sing along with me, and we just use our homemade “instruments” for background music. We are really able to sing the songs and play the games anywhere.

Homemade shakers out of baby food jars.

Music Together does suggest having certain instruments for the kids to use, like tambourines, rhythm sticks, shakers, and so on. This doesn’t need to be anything complicated or expensive. I was able to gather a bunch of homemade rhythm instruments to go with this program- we used a bucket and a spoon for a drum, baby food jars with things in them for shakers, silverware for rhythm sticks, wooden blocks to knock together…. Really the options are limitless for things you can make music with in your own home.

Something else you should know-

My husband, who has banned more than one kid’s music CD and audiobook because of their “annoying level” approves of this CD. The songs are well done and pleasant to listen to (listen to a sample to see for yourself!), and don’t drive Daddy up the wall. We are still working on him being willing to let us bang our “drums” while he is in the room…. But for now, I’ll stick with him being willing to listen to the CD while he is in the car. One step at a time.

Each lesson also includes ideas and recommendations for using the song book with children with special needs. This doesn’t apply to my situation, but I appreciate how this curriculum covers all the angles and includes children of all ages and situations.

In a Nutshell-

Music has become a consistent and well-loved part of our homeschool. The kids and I have been singing these songs, and having a fantastic time with the Family Songbook. Everyone, Baby and Daddy included have been able to participate, and having the whole family together for lessons has been a wonderful experience.

You can learn more about Music Together at their website. Currently, The Music Together Family Favorites CD and Songbook Combo is available for a special price of $39.95 (a discount of $5). You can also use the coupon code “Schoolhouse” at checkout and save an additional $2.

Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine. Read what other crew members thought of Music Together.

I was a public school kid. I loved school, except for PE class. I hated PE with a fiery passion, and with good reason. When I was in the third grade, the teacher wrote on my report card that I am “kinesthetically challenged”…. To this day, I’m not sure what she meant by that, but I am pretty sure she meant that I am klutzy and pretty much incapable of making my body do what I want it to. In elementary school, I remember playing kickball, capture the flag and dodge ball… oh, and one especially awkward week where they taught us how to square dance. In high school, the only thing I remember participating in was the mile and a half run, and only because you had to do it to pass the class. I was NOT going to fail PE, so I ran. The rest of the time, I worked really hard on my tan while sitting in the outfield.

Physical education was miserable, and it in no way prepared me to tackle physical education at home with my children. PE in school is reliant on a large group of kids, and teaching PE at home by myself is reliant on my having a clue. My poor 6 year old has inherited my klutzy nature, and needs some major help with coordination and fitness, and I really need the tools to help him improve.

I think Family Time Fitness is a program written explicitly for people like me. When you purchase the Fitness 4 Homeschool Core 1 Curriculum, you get a PDF of 260 different lessons to use, 5 days a week for a year. The lessons are scheduled to give the kids 30-45 minutes of structured physical education per lesson, with an extra outdoor activity scheduled for 15-25 min. The lessons are long and detailed, with a large variety of activities with step by step instructions. Each activity and movement included in the lesson has detailed instructions, but more importantly is accompanied by its very own private you tube video to show you exactly how it should be done. The videos SO helpful for kinesthetically challenged people like me who read the directions and go “huh?”

The activities in Family Time Fitness are focused on what they call “fundamental movements”, things like shipping, hopping, running, jumping and shuffling. Core 1 is written to improve “each child’s strength, mobility, agility, flexibility, coordination, balance, endurance and mental acuity” through a mastery of these fundamental movements. This program is focused on improving the strengths and confidence of the individual child, through fun, engaging activities.

I found this program to be especially helpful because it is written to be used in small spaces, and with single children or small groups. We live in a small apartment, on the third floor. The kids don’t always get to go out to play, and weather in Germany is unpredictable to say the least. This program helps me give the kids the physical stimulation they need each day, while working with the space we have. We did most of the activities in the living room (in an 8 foot by 8 foot space) and up and down a single hallway. This program helped me work with the space I had, and got the kids moving even when I was being too lazy to drag all the kids down three flights of stairs.

Doing PE in the hallway

The lessons can be completed all at one time, but I found the program most useful when I began breaking the lesson up during the day, between subjects to help the boys get the wiggles out. It takes us 5-15 minutes to do an activity, and we have enough material in one lesson to take 3 or 4 “PE breaks” each day. It really did get their blood pumping, and improved their focus (as much as little boys focus). The activities are written to be done with common household sports equipment, like jump ropes, hula hoops, balls and bean bags, so we kept these materials close to use while working on our lessons, and I could just bring them out for quick breaks, without having to worry about finding things.

This is my kids brains on Family Time Fitness. 

The only downside to the program is that it is so large and substantial that printing it is impractical. You are looking at more than 900 pages of lesson plans. Luckily, they authors planned ahead for this, and provided one page summaries for the lessons for you to print, cutting the number of pages down to 260. I personally enjoy the long directions included in the lesson plans, and need them for a crutch, so when teaching the children I kept the laptop close to refer to when I needed more guidance then the one page summaries that I printed.

I have a friend who uploaded the lesson plan PDFs to a tablet, so she takes the tablet with her wherever they were doing the activities, which also made checking the YouTube videos (which are hyperlinked right there in the lesson plans) a snap. Using this program on a tablet would be ideal.

Overall, the kids loved this program. They ask daily to “Do PE”, and it has come in helpful getting the kids wiggles out between subjects. Family Time Fitness is very well done, and easy to use. The program comes with many optional extra tools to help improve your child’s fitness level, like a daily food diary, nutrition log, tracking calendars, shopping lists, meal planners. One of the extras I love is the assessment tool, which taught me how to measure Bug and Mr. Man’s fitness level, and gave me tangible goals to look for, so I can see how they are improving as they continue in this program.

For elementary and middle school, Family Time Fitness also offers a Basketball Module and Health Workbooks to be used with the program. Next year, they will be releasing Core 2, with more activities and increasing difficulty. This is a program I can see my family using and growing with for years! For High School Students, they have a separate fitness program, as well as online health and fitness classes.

Family Time Fitness’ Core 1 Curriculum is appropriate for kids in grade k-8, and can be easily reused multiple years with the same children. It can be purchased right now for 57 dollars on the Family Time Fitness website, or get all their elementary lessons, including the soon to be released core 2, health workbooks, and basketball module for 137.

Disclaimer- I received Family Time Fitness Core 1 Curriculum for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine. Click the banner above to read more crew reviews.