Bright Idea's Press

Bright Idea's Press sent those of us on the TOS Crew two items to review; A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers and All American History Volume 1.

A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers



This is a fantastic curriculum. It is genius in it's simplicity, and yet it's so FULL. There is just so much in this little book and yet it's not expensive nor does it have to much for the student to do. You can get a great understanding of Composers by just reading the small bio on the composer, listening to some of his work and then answering the provided questions. Or you can take it much deeper. There are composer info cards the students can fill out and keep for reference. There are coloring pages provided for the student to color as he listens, there are timelines and mapping exercises and games and on and on. I was surprised to peruse this seemingly ordinary workbook and see so very much provided!

The music itself is not included but in the back of the book there is a website for every composer listed where you can find examples of their music and on occasion a video of an orchestra playing the pieces.

One of the things I appreciate most about this curriculum is the Christian perspective. The character of the composer is touched on and some things about a composer that might be inappropriate are left out or discussed from a Christian perspective.

This is a gem, and is highly recommended!


All American History




All American History is a 2 volume, three part American History Curriculum spanning two years.

I was sent Volume 1 which takes us from the Explorers to the Jacksonian. This covers one year and is in three parts. The Text, the Student Activity Book and the Teacher's Guide.

I'm all for saving money, but you really can't properly do this curriculum without all three. The text is great, but without the two other parts, it's just a text book. The student activity guide is what brings it to life for the student. It is what cements what he has learned. It contains questions about what they read in the text and For Further Study projects for each of the thirty-two lessons.

The Teacher Guide contains MUCH information to help you student complete the For Further Study projects. It was fascinating to read some of the information that was contained in there! It also contains Activity Ideas, Dates needed for the timeline, information for the map work, review games, (and my favorite resource!) a book list for primary, middle and secondary grade levels, Answers for the For Further Study Projects, additional suggestions for Younger Student Adaptations, and suggestions for family activities.

This is a FULL history curriculum.

My ideas on what make up a good history curriculum have changed as my kids have gotten older. We used to use a literature based curriculum that was very book heavy. I felt like I was rushing my kids through wonderful books to keep up and I felt like the spine was missing.

I like All American History because it is all spine, but it is done in a way that still feels like the kids are being told a story instead of reading a dry text book. I like that I can add activity and books that fit my students and their age and reading level and let them read them at there pace, not the pace the curriculum suggests.

We were not able to use these wonderful resources for more than a few weeks because we are full up this school year. However, these two resources will be put back on the shelf for next year. They will be used in full as our main curriculum starting in the Fall, we liked them that much.

You can go to Bright Idea's Press to see the process for these items and see what other products they offer and as always, you can click on the icon below to see what others had to say about various Bright Ideas Press offerings.


Happy Homeschooling!

ACT Discover

Most of you have heard of the ACT. It's that scary test you have to take toward the end of high school that seems to hold the key to your future success in college.

I've always feared the ACT for my children. We have spent the first 12 years learning things as works best for each individual child. Doing things differently, as best suits each child. But before they can go on to college they must pass through this scary test. Well it turns out the ACT people have some really amazing tools to make this transition much less daunting.

I was sent several items by the ACT people that I'll be reviewing over the coming months, but the first is the ACT Discover.

DISCOVER is a premier Internet-based career guidance system that helps parents help their children learn more about themselves, explore career options, and plan for the future.

It starts by taking your high school student through a rigorous online questionnaire that, when finished will show the student his academic bents, and based on that, career fields that would best suite those bents. But it does not stop there. My older son has taken these types of assessments, and really once he had the 'you're best for ________ type of work.' he was left there. The ACT Discover takes it further. From there the ACT Discover lets you check over the various career fields it suggests in some depth. With this information in mind, the student can then see what a good course of study would be for him to make in into the suggested careers.

Personally, I think the extra steps are what make the ACT Discover useful. As the parents of two teenage boys, I've noticed that it is sometimes hard for them to see how to get from where they are now, to what they want in the future. The path from here to there is fuzzy. And we all know that a directionless teenager is a recipe for disaster.

Both of my boys know where they are going and what is necessary to get there. They both have very specific career plans and the ACT Discover just reiterated to them they were on the right path and then gave them some further ideas on how they might accomplish their goals.

I think this is a great program and I recommend it.

Price: $19.95 for a three-month license, $24.95 for a six-month license.

You can go here to find out more about the ACT Discover program and as always, you can click on the icon below to see what other members of the TOS Crew had to say.

Happy Homeschooling!

ABC Teach

ABC Teach is a website for educators. If you've ever done a Google Search for worksheets or printables you've probably already been there. ABC Teach has around 5000 free printables available. But the member site is amazing!

I was thrilled to be offered a free 1 month membership as a member of the TOS Crew. I had a membership to ABC Teach years ago when I was teaching my littles to read. It was worth every penny. We did a letter of the week type thing and there was so much available on ABC Teach to use to enhance that.

I let my membership expire once my kids learned to read because we're not really worksheet style people, and ABC Teach seemed geared toward the younger crowd. I was happy to find out that there was much available for my older kids this time around. I was especially interested in all the book report forms and writing tools.

I am trying to teach a dyslexic to better write essays this year and there are many resources available to help me help him organize his papers before he begins writing.

I feel like I only scratched the surface of what's available on ABC Teach so I decided to renew my membership for a full year. Here is the list of links just under Language Arts...

Alphabetical Order Proverbs and Sayings
Book Reports Reading
Brainstorming Activities Rebus
Dolch Skills
Glyphs Spelling
Literacy Centers Word Families
Morning Language Arts Word Slides
Nursery Rhymes Word Wheels--Picture Shapes
Phonics Writing

And under brainstorming activities there were another 17 options to click on. You can see how they have over 35,000 printables and worksheets (with more being added weekly)!

There is also a new component to ABC Teach that was not available when I had my membership the first time and that's the ABC Tools where you can create your own worksheets: handwriting pages, word searches, crossword puzzles and the like.

ABC Teach is a wonderful resource in my opinion for those who are worksheet/workbook types and even those who are not. I am not usually a workbookie type, but I look forward to all I'll be able to use on ABC Teach over the next year.

The $40 a year cost for a membership is well worth it. You can click on the icon below to see what others had to say about ABC Teach.

Happy Homeschooling!

My Access

There are many ways to learn about writing. There is much curriculum available and many programs to choose from. It is my opinion however, that the best way to learn to write is simply to write. That is one of the reasons I liked the My Access program. The point of the My Access Program is to write.
Here’s how it works.

You pay your $99 and you get one parent account and three or six student accounts. The parent begins by setting up the student accounts and inputting the grade level of the student. From there you can create your own topics for writing assignments or have your student choose a readymade topic. I created my own because my children are taking a writing class at our co op this year and they had specific topics they had to write about. When my children choose their own topics they don’t read a lesson, they just write into the provided space and then click on My Editor when done. Think of the My Editor button as you would the spell/grammar check in Word, except (and this is key) it not only gives you suggestions as to how to correct the problem, it tells you WHY it needs to be corrected. What grammar/spelling/usage rule you are breaking, and how to fix it.

I must admit we have not spent a great deal of time on the My Tutor portion of the My Access because my kids have been getting all their teaching at the co op class. However, coming up, they have some things to do outside of the co op English Class, and I am planning on having them use the Tutor portion of this program to help them with that project.

In all honesty, I believe this program is VERY MUCH worth the money. $99 for up to 6 accounts? That’s a deal!

There is one caveat however. As with most things in life, it’s never as simple as it seems. This program will not take away parental involvement. For instance; I have two prolific writers in my house. They write because they love to do it and they want to do it to the best of their abilities. My Access was a real treat for them. I even forgot to ask my Eve to write her essay for co op using My Access and she did it anyway because she really enjoyed it the last time. She thrives on the non-judgmental critique. You don’t tend to get as defensive when critiqued by the computer. She wants to do better and she sees this program as a way to help her write the best possible paper.

On the other side of the coin is my Bob. Bob is dyslexic and hates writing. He would write on the My Access website and then I’d come sit down next to him and we’d go over the corrections. He was simply not able to process all the program was telling him without someone there to walk through it with him. When I took the time to sit next to him and edit with him, he got much more out of it. The defensiveness was also gone there because I was helping him solve the problem, not the one pointing it out. So, while My Access was definitely a help for him as well, it was not necessarily a time saver.

The My Access site has MUCH information on its website. If you are interested in this program, I’d recommend taking some time and looking over the site. There are many video demos that can really give you a good understanding of what the My Access program is all about.

Happy Homeschooling!

Virginia Soaps and Scents

Being on the TOS Crew has many perks, mostly I get to try curriculum that I might not otherwise think to try. But every now and then, we get to try something non curriculum. Like Virginia Soaps and Scents! VSS sent us some homemade soaps, three to be exact, in Coconut Lemongrass, Fresh Orange, and Oatmeal, Milk and Honey scents. I loved them all, but the Fresh Orange was my favorite. I don't usually use soap, I like liquid soap better. I don't like the feel that is left on my skin from regular soap. I was pleasantly surprised that these soaps did not leave that sort of dry sticky feel. I thought I'd use them just enough to do the review then go back to my usually liquid soap, but I liked them so much I used them all up! I didn't even share with my girls.

We were also sent a Shampoo Bar. I had never heard of a shampoo bar before. I tried it for a week, but I just couldn't get it to work with my hair. I have heard of many of the others who like it alot. Honestly I think this depends on your hair type. I have thin, baby fine hair. It did not respond well to the shampoo bar. I left it kind of oily and heavy feeling. My hair is very temperamental and I only use one type of shampoo/conditioner and any time I try something new, I tend to end up with oily, lifeless hair.

The price on the Shampoo bar is $5.50 for a bar weighing 5.5 ounces or $10.00 for 2 bars. Honestly I wish this had worked on my hair, because it s so convenient and easy to travel with. It would have been GREAT for camping! I have stuck the rest of the bar in the RV to let the boys use.

The last thing we were sent was a laundry soap kit. I must admit here that I have not yet made the soap. I have been intrigued with the idea of making my own laundry soap for a while now. We have 6 people in this family and 5 of them are adult size. I do A LOT of laundry. My problem with this is that we live in a small house with a small kitchen and a small laundry area. The thought of making the big vat of laundry soap Duggar style, was just too overwhelming to me.

I like the idea of this kit because all the gathering work is done for me and it makes a manageable batch for me to work with in my kitchen and laundry area. Now for honesty...I've not done it yet. We've been passing around a cold here, (not the flu PTL!) and I've just not gotten to it. However, Kristen, on the Crew did it and she videoed it! Just watching her do it makes me feel like this is something I could do!

So next week, making the laundry soap is top of my list!

I know it seems a little odd to be reviewing soaps on a Homeschool Blog, but the family from VSS is a homeschooling family. Their account of how they came to be soap makers is heartwarming and I am all for supporting another homeschooling families business venture whenever I can.

You can go here to learn more about Virginia Soaps and Scents, read more about their family and find our their prices, and as always you can click on the icon below to see what others on The Crew had to say.

Happy Homeschooling!

Amazing Bible Timeline

I was sent the Amazing Bible Timeline to review. It came in this really cool long, triangular box. That really has nothing to do with the review other than it was a treat to get a log triangular box in the mail and the kids had hours of fun turning the box into many things before it finally went out with the trash.

Now to the timeline…



This is a really cool timeline. I do like the way it’s laid out. Before I received it in the mail, I had never seen one laid out in this circular way before. It really does make it easy to understand and ‘see’ history. I am a big fan of timelines, though we don’t use them as much as we should I’m sure, and we don’t keep one or make one as we go because well, eeewww, arts and crafts.

This is a big timeline…here is a photo from their website that shows the timeline laid out on a table. You can really get how big this is. It is made on heavy card stock paper. It’s not laminated but it’s sturdy.



There are a few negatives or things some might perceive negatively. I think it’s important to remember that while this is a Bible timeline, it is not, in fact, the inerrant word of God. It is not inspired. It’s man’s attempt to put Gods word into chronological perspective. There are also some references on the timeline that are not necessarily biblical, or more accurately, more historical than Biblical. There are also some Book of Mormon references on the timeline.

Honestly, this does not deter from the usefulness of the timeline for me. It is a timeline after all, not a bible study. It is a great timeline, one my family will use. However, I am careful to explain to my kids that it is not the Bible. It is a tool to perhaps help us to understand history from a more Biblical perspective, but it’s not a Bible Study. There is a difference.

I think this Timeline will find a place amongst my curriculum tools…now if I could just find a good place to display it where everyone can see it…

You can go here to check out the prices (included in the price for the timeline is a few free downloads, YIPPEE!) and as always, you can click on the icon below to see what others had to say about the Amazing Bible Timeline.


Happy Homeschooling!

Sarah’s Wish

When I was sent this book by Jim Baumgardner I was thrilled. It had several things going for it, in my opinion. First of all, Jim wrote this book for his grandchildren. He has 9 who are all homeschooled. I Love that. I have enjoyed getting to know Mr. Baumgardner through his emails. He has a wonderful sense of humor and an obvious love of history, and a nose for the type of quality literature he would want his own grandchildren to read. It makes me feel very safe letting my kids read books a man wrote with his own grandchildren in mind. Here is an excerpt of the email he sent out to those of us reviewing this book on the Crew.

The Sarah Books are authored by me for my grandchildren. I say that so that you will know these books do not have any sex, profanity, or anything that would be offensive to young readers. I would never subject my grandchildren to such writing.

The books have been referred to as Christian fiction. I prefer to describe them as Young Adult fiction written by a Christian author. Sarah’s faith is important to her and she lives by it, but the books do not try to convert the reader to anything. The stories do teach Christian principals of living a good life and treating others as you would have them treat you. I do not ignore the evil in the world and Sarah must confront it at times just as we all do.

Not all learning has to be from textbooks. Kids like to see history set in story form, and the Sarah books fulfill that quest for realism. The reader will learn pre-civil war history while enjoying a good read.

That is exactly what we found Sarah’s Wish to be; a delightful read, which was historically accurate, and good clean and fun.

My girls have asked for the rest of the books. I wish I could just go out and order them. I HATE saying no to my kids when they’re asking for books. Sadly money is tight right now so we’re not able to buy any extra’s. I have added these to the Christmas list though. We have a few relatives who send money down for Christmas gifts and I think that money will be spent on Sarah’s books!

There are a few things to me, that take these books over the top as far as appeal. One is the audio component. I have two dyslexic children so anytime I can get something on audio I do. It is such a good practice to have my dyslexic child follow along in the book while listening to the audio. When you buy the book, you get some numbers to type into some little boxes on a website (what a technical explanation!) and you can download the audio! I had my son use his magic and convert them to the right type of file and upload the book onto my daughter’s iPod. It is an ancient iPod (a 1st gen) and it all fit and worked like a charm.

Also, Mr. Baumgardner has a newsletter he sends out with fun facts, historical information pertaining to the book a question of the month and several other things pertaining to the stories.

Another little bonus for me was that Mr. Baumgardner is from Wichita, KS, my old stomping grounds and he volunteers at the Old Cowtown Museum which I visited as a child. I remember spending a day there in 1800’s garb (including my great grandmothers actual bonnet! Which I still have!) in the one room schoolhouse. I have very fond memories of Cowtown and can’t wait to take my kids there next time I’m in town visiting relatives. I may stop and introduce myself to Mr. Baumgardner!

This book, about the underground railroad in 1858 Kansas. It’s about a little girl, a great tragedy, and a big wish. This book gets an A+ from this Homeschooling mama!

You can go here to read more about Mr. Baumgardner and the Sarah books (including excerpts). And as always you can click on the icon below to see what others had to say about Sarah’s Wish.

Happy Homeschooling!