The Homeschool Crew Review Team

I’ve been a part of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew review team and we are getting near the of our voyage. It has been a busy, yet good blogging review year. I’ve been able to see and use materials first-hand that I would have never thought to use with my children. I’ve been introduced to so many great companies and educational materials through this team. Through this experience, I feel like I’ve learned how to become a better reviewer. This opportunity might be a good fit for you if:

1. You can be flexible with your curriculum plan. You will have to set aside some of your curriculum plans in order to do some of the reviews. (i.e.  You have to review a complete writing program which is different than the one you have already chosen for your children. )

2. You have an established blog, post regularly, and have a minimum of 25 followers.

3. You have a Facebook account (either personal or  for your blog). This is to help with communications within the team.

If you are interested in joining next year’s crew, read through the application: TOS 2011-2011 Crew Application

TOS Blog Walk

As you might have noticed (I hope you have!) I've been a part of the 2010-2011 TOS Crew. Besides having the opportunity to review various educational materials and curriculum, I've met so many wonderful homeschool bloggers via the crew. We’ve been spotlighting various crew member blogs over the past couple of months. You’ll find this week’s featured blogs below. If you'd like some more homeschool inspiration, be sure to check my crewmates' blogs out:

1. Our Best Daze
2. The Joy of School
3. Spell Outloud –hey! That’s me! :)
4. to the sea with me
5. Half Dozen Mama
6. Creative Learning
7. Homeschooling My Miracles
8. Beyond The Silver and The Gold - A Filipino Family's Homeschool Journey
9. My Own Sense and Sensibility
10. Happily Homeschooling

The Schoolhouse Planner from TOS

Navigating all the responsibilities of running a home, establishing routines, planning long-term school goals, schedules, course-work, field trips, co-ops and more can be rough sailing if there is no plan. The Old Schoolhouse took all those needs into consideration and created a one-stop family and school planner to help ensure smooth sailing in the year ahead.

The 2010-2011 Schoolhouse Planner is more than an ordinary planner. It has tips, ideas, informative articles, check-lists and customizable forms to help organize every area of your life. In fact, this planner has over 600 pages! (Don't worry, you don't have to print them all!)

Here are some highlights:

Household: meal ideas, menu planning, maintainence checklists and more.

Spirit: Bible reading charts, Bible study notes and more.

Family: chore lists, computer information, birthday and anniversary planners and more.

Homeschool: calendar pages, subject sheets, testing forms, co-op planning forms and more.

Not sure? Well take a peek for yourself! The Planner Sample

Order it now:

The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner- $39.00! (E-book format)
The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner- $44.00 (CD version)


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Disclosure:
I was given this planner by TOS and am writing this post as an ad for a contest at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I am currently using the product represented in this post to help plan my school year and life. Now all I need is someone to actually come and help me do what I planned--lol!

Getting to know the Crew

I am excited to be a part of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew. I will get to review various homeschool/educational products during the year and share those reviews with you! The Crew is divided up into two teams this year, those reviewing products for younger children, and those reviewing products for older children (middle school and up). I'll be a part of the younger children crew. Since it is such a big team, we thought that doing a weekly blog walk would be a great way to get to know other homeschoolers. So for this week here are the featured TOS Crew blogs!

1. Second Star to the Right and Straight On Till Morning
Participates regularly on the Weekly Wrap-Up Meme.

2. Surviving The Testosterone
This post of hers had me laughing: Never a Dull Moment with Boys

3. Family Style School
Love her post about Snack Baskets

4. School Around The Bible

5. 1628 The Story of The Goebels 5
Oh my goodness-I want a Yogotherm!

6. Morris Family Madness
I think my kids would like doing Horses for Healing too

7. Homeschool Musings
Love the Paint Tape City idea!

8. Homeschooling (and then some!)
Oh my girls would love these: Girls and their Baubbles

9. Heartfelt Homeschooling
Aww, Pringles the Goose -- love that they are helping and learning at the same time!

10. following Him home
Apryl is a very talented artist and photographer as well as homeschool mom. I hope she shares more of her work! :)

WannaBe™-When I Grow Up I Want to be a Firefighter |Review

The Old Schoolhouse recently sent me WannaBe™-When I Grow Up I Want to be a Firefighter  unit to review. I thought this would be perfect for my 10yr. old son.

Cost: $8.95
Format: PDF file
Ages: K-4th - though I think that it would work best for ages 8 on up.

Here is some information about the unit from the site:

• Discover the history of firefighters and the evolution of firefighting equipment.
   
• Learn what other emergencies firefighters respond to.
   
• Explore the ins and outs of a fire truck.
   
• Pretend you are a building inspector and learn about building codes.
   
• Meet a real-life fireman and hear him describe his job in his own words.
   
• Fall in love with Wilshire, the firehouse dog, who teaches children about fire safety.
   
• Examine the pay scale for firefighters across the country.
   
• Learn about the relationship between firefighters and robots, and build your own robotic arm!

My 10yr. old son was able to work through this unit independently. I was impressed with the narrative. It was easy to read yet contained factual information in an interesting way. Since my son was doing this independently, I did create notebooking pages so that he could summarize each section in his own words. I was surprised that several times he came to me on his own and started chatting about certain firefighter facts. This is not normal for him. :)

While we did enjoy the main e-book, I found that we didn't use most of the activities. I would have appreciated some notebooking pages in lieu of crossword puzzles. We didn't use the copywork pages because he already has other copywork. Both my son and I were a little confused with the robotics section. While we understand the connection, it seemed like it was a bunny-trail in the middle of the unit (though bunny trails aren't necessarily bad). My son did think the information was cool and wanted to know if a robotics unit was available.

My thoughts: I think this unit would be a good fit for 3rd-5th graders who already have an interest in learning more about firefighting. The narrative portion is well-done and would be a nice side-study in careers. This series does not include a weekly lesson plan, so one would need to be created. While the unit is full of ideas, you would have to pull everything together. You could read most of the unit on the computer, but I've found that we work better with a hard-copy.


If firefighting is not your cup of tea, check out the other e-book units in the WannaBe -When I Grow Up Series:

• Veterinarian,
• Chef,
• Military,
• Doctor,
• Police Officer,
• Missionary,
• Artist,
• Pilot, and
• Farmer

*Tristan, from Our Busy Homeschool left a comment regarding a supplemental booklist that works well with the fire fighter unit. I didn't want it to get overlooked in the comment section.
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This unit was given to me for review purposes. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.