Review: Vocabulary Cartoons

A mnemonic device is simply something meant to "assist memory".

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety two.

I bet most of you have heard that before and as a result of learning it, you never forgot it was 1492 that Columbus discovered the Americas!

The Product

Vocabulary Cartoons, Elementary Edition is a vocabulary book, from New Monic Books, that uses mnemonics to aid in learning vocabulary words. The book consists of 210 vocabulary words for elementary students in third through sixth grade. Each vocabulary word is presented with its definition, the part of speech, and a few example sentences. What makes it unique, however, is the addition of the mnemonics and a cartoon to illustrate the mnemonic. For example, the word falter is said to sound like altar. The cartoon shows a bride and groom at the altar an the groom is falling backward. The mnemonic says: The groom FALTERED at the ALTAR. Students can then remember that the meaning of falter is to become weak or unsteady. The visual of the cartoon reinforces the mnemonic used for better retention of the word's meaning. Vocabulary Cartoons also contain a review quiz, with matching and fill in the blanks, at the end of each set of ten words.

Additional samples can be viewed here.

Our Experience

I have been using Vocabulary Cartoons with my 4th grader, Ben. These short, easy to retain, lessons are perfect for him. He loves to read cartoons so he was hooked instantly. The first time I showed the book to him he sat down for half an hour reading page after page and laughing at the jokes. His opinion of Vocabulary Cartoons: This is a hilarious way to learn words!

Personally, I like Vocabulary Cartoons because he is actually retaining the meaning of the words. We'd been using a popular vocabulary workbook that used crossword puzzles, fill in the blanks, true or false and matching exercises to teach words. Ben didn't really mind doing these, but at the end of the lesson the words were forgotten. When he got to a review it was clear that his retention of the words was poor.With Vocabulary Cartoons, however, he remembers the mnemonic used and is able to give the definition of the word even after a considerable amount of time has lapsed.


The Bottom Line
Vocabulary Cartoons is a great resource to use in teaching vocabulary. The Elementary Edition was written for third through sixth grade, and that age range is right on target in my opinion. The book is available for $12.95 and that is a very reasonable price considering you could use it as a non-consumable resource. The quizzes are the only pages that would be written on and you could easily do these orally, as we have, or on a separate sheet of paper.

New Monic Books also has a couple of other vocabulary books available, also for $12.95: Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power and Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power II.

I received this product for free as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. My opinions are solely my own and are not influenced in any way. I am not being reimbursed in anyway for this review. What I have shared is simply our experience, your mileage may vary.

Design Squad

Our Design Squad club has now had it's first two meetings and we have projects to share! It's been a great experience so far. We have seven students (including Ben and Gavin) participating in our Design Squad club and I think they are all enjoying the challenges.

Gavin and Ben want to share with you the results of our first two meetings.

Our first project was called Kick Stick. Using what they learned about circuits and switches, students mounted a 3-volt motor to a paint stick and equipped it with spinning blades. They each designed their own switch to enable them to turn their kick stick off and on. While most of the kick sticks were similar in design, no two of them were exactly alike. Some learned that while one spinning blade worked well, adding a second blade made it balance a little better. Some learned that shorter blades spun faster than longer blades.

Gavin's Kick Stick

Ben's Kick Stick

Our second project was called Electric Gamebox. Students brought back their kick sticks and created a ball-and-target type game (think pinball, goofy golf, bowling, etc...) that they could play using their kick stick. Students were provided with shallow cardboard boxes and a variety of resources to use in creating their games. The challenge in this project was to wire a buzzer up to the target so that when the ping pong ball struck or landed in the target the buzzer sounded. Most of the students ended up using their ping pong ball as a contact that would close the circuit when it landed in or hit the target. To do this, they wrapped their ping pong balls in aluminum foil.

Gavin's Game

Gavin's Game in Action

Ben's Game

Ben's Game in Action

Lost & Found

Friday night around 10:30 pm we discovered our dog was missing. Suzy has been a part of our family for about 4 years now and the realization that she was gone was heart-wrenching. With flashlights we searched the perimeters and corners of our yard, fearing the worst. When that search revealed nothing we moved to the streets. Trying to keep our flashlights from shining in darkened windows where our neighbors slept, we looked in hedges, on porches, under cars, and in ditches. All the while looking for, and fearing, the evidence she'd been struck by a vehicle. Brian was in the van at 1 am, driving slowly with the windows down and the radio off, whistling, calling. Desperation and sadness had set in and it was clear in the shaky edge to our voices. Finally we slept, but we slept without our constant companion, our foot warming bed companion. We tried not to think about where she might be sleeping. Shaking. Alone.

Ben had fallen asleep with tears in his eyes. Gavin had fallen asleep with the burden that maybe it was him who'd taken her outside, gotten distracted, and left her.

As soon as there was light the searching continued. Signs went up to alert our neighbors in hopes someone had seen her, or maybe taken her in and given her a place to sleep for the night. More driving with the windows down and the radio off. More whistling and calling.

I sat on Luci's bed as she woke up and I told her Suzy was missing. She cried and we prayed that Suzy would be found.

Around 9 am one of my neighbors came to check on us. She, too, has dogs that she loves, that are as much a part of her family as any pets can be. She knocked on our front door and at that moment I heard a faint bark. A muffled bark from somewhere. Somewhere inside the house. We started knocking on the walls and listening, trying to pinpoint her location in the house. She was here! Her bark brought us to Luci's bedroom. More precisely, it brought us to Luci's toy kitchen, beside which I had just sat two hours earlier to tell a little girl our dog was missing.

Ben opened the refrigerator door and Suzy practically did backflips out of her cramped overnight quarters.

I called Gavin and Brian to tell them they could stop searching. We'd found her. Right under our noses this whole time. She never made a peep, until someone knocked on the door. Even when we'd called her name and begged her to come. Never a peep. I am so thankful for neighbors who come knocking just to check on us.

It took a little while to get the full story from Luci. I was able to learn however, that she was re-enacting a scene from Beverly Hills Chihuahua, the scene where the 'bad guys' took Chloe (the chihuahua, who happens to look a LOT like Suzy) to use in the dog fights. They locked her up until they were ready to put her in the fight. Luci, was locking Suzy up until she was ready to put her in the dog fight. She'd gotten distracted at some point during her game and had forgotten to take Suzy out. And during all of the searching she never once remembered Suzy was locked up for the dog fights.

Airplane Apology

This is my middle child. My nine year old bundle of energy.

From the time he was conceived we've had ups and downs. Scary moments, wonderful moments, difficult moments, and humorous moments have indelibly marked his nine years.

When I was six weeks pregnant with this one an ultrasound tech said he wasn't there. They told me it was just an empty sac. It wasn't. A week later, just before doing a D&C my doctor wanted to take one more look. His little heartbeat fluttered. And we gasped and cried.

Does he look like an empty sac to you?

When he was a still a little thing, with his moon face and footy pajamas, he was attacked and bitten by our dog. Fear lodged in my throat as I looked into his bloodied face. It took twenty-five stitches to the right side of his face to repair the damage. The only evidence now is the dimple on his cheek and a mark on his lip. The scar on my heart took longer to heal.

When Ben was five he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with Impulsivity. As any mother of a child with ADD or similar problems knows, it's not easy. There are days I ask God, "Why can't he be like other kids?"

And then God reminds me that He loves my boy more that I do and He has a purpose and a direction for Ben's strong will, intensity, devotion, and warm-hearted spirit. He will use Ben in ways I cannot see or understand in my limited human perspective.

I must be more consistent and practice more patience with him.

You might be wondering right now what this has to do with an airplane. After all, the name of this blog post is Airplane Apology.

Well, like I said before, life with Ben is full of ups and downs. Yesterday morning was one of those downs. It was our first day back to school after being off for our vacation. And yes, first days back are hard. Ben was having a particularly difficult time focusing on his school work. He was distracted by his sister, the puppy, his own stomach, and so on. A few temper tantrums later he'd finally settled down for a quiet spell.

Before too long a paper airplane landed on the table in front of me with the instructions: Open it Mom.

I unfolded my paper airplane to read his apology: I'm sorry I acted up. P.S. Look on the other side.

I felt the sting of tears prickling at my eyes and the hairs on my arm start to tingle as I turned the paper airplane over to read my next message:

I love you mom!

And the tears came freely then. He watched from the threshold of the room, and then ran into my arms when he knew the time was right. He gives the best hugs and the best kisses. And the best paper airplane apologies.

Monday Musings--Sept. 20

Setting the Cruise Control
We started school in July, the week after Independence Day. Since then we've experienced a number of starts and stops at a few metaphorical red lights and traffic jams. Sickness, travel, and other things have gotten in the way of a steady course. We're hitting the highway today, however, and there are no stops in sight so I'm turning on the cruise control. Next stop: Thanksgiving.

Speaking of CRUISE
My husband and I just returned from a wonderful anniversary cruise on board the Carnival Elation. We sailed to Progreso and Cozumel and had an amazing time both onboard and in each port. We sailed out of Mobile on beautiful calm seas and enjoyed that calm until the very last day. We left Cozumel about 2 hours before Tropical Storm Karl made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, and since the storm was pretty large we had rough seas the entire way home. It took a few days to get over the phantom rocks of the boat once I was on land. We enjoyed the fine dining, the entertainment, and the sights. Our only regret: Not being able to bring the room attendants and waitstaff home with us. If your a Facebook friend of mine you can view our photos by clicking here.

Upcoming TOS Crew Reviews
I'm currently reviewing a couple of products that you'll hear about soon. Vocabulary Cartoons from New Monic Books is, like it's title suggests, a vocabulary book.  Map Skills, from Soli Deo Gloria Resources, is a unit study on, you guessed it, map skills! Both of those are coming up in the next three weeks. I am also reviewing Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek, Level 1. This is a longer review, however, so you'll have to wait until the spring to read about that one.

Review: I See Cards Pyramath

I remember when we first had a computer in our home. They were ancient by today's standards, slow and very limited. But one thing they did, and did well, was the game of Solitaire. I'm not sure when Windows started adding Solitaire as a standard feature in their operating systems, but I for one, was addicted. It's been a long time now since I've played!

The Product

Recently, though, a new addicting game has come into my life! And not just my life, but my kids' lives too. As a reviewer for TOS Homeschool Crew I was sent a deck of cards from I See Cards. This deck of cards is called Pyramath. The cards are brightly colored and each contain a number from 0-9. The game begins by dealing out 5 cards from a shuffled deck and placing them face up, side by side. Players then try to build a pyramid by playing a single card on any set of side by side cards. The catch is that the three cards together must make a math sentence. For example, if there is a 3 and a 2 side by side you could legally play a 6 (3 x 2), a 5 (3+2), or a 1 (3-1). The cards are designed so that one person can play alone, or two people can play, simultaneously trying to build their pyramid on opposite sides of the same initial set of cards.

Our Experience

As I mentioned already, this game is simply addicting! We actually started playing the game online before the cards arrived in the mail. With lots of practice we each got faster and faster and better and better. My top score now is ZERO and the boys have each scored a 1! (The lower your score the better!)

When our deck of cards arrived we started playing the two-player version and it was full-on competition between the boys and I! I was very impressed with how quickly my boys are able to figure out what numbers will work well. I've also seen an improvement on their speed and accuracy with their math lessons.

The Bottom Line

Pyramath is a must have in my opinion!  The online game is fun (and FREE), but the actual deck of cards is great to have because it allows you to play with two players. There are also instructions included for playing a variation of War. I recommend this product to any family, whether you think your kids need extra facts practice or not. Each deck of cards is just $6.95 and would make a great addition to any family game night.

I received this product for free as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. My opinions are solely my own and are not influenced in any way. I am not being reimbursed in anyway for this review. What I have shared is simply our experience, your mileage may vary.

Review: America's Math Teacher

The Product


America's Math Teacher is a new online math program providing complete math instruction. There are four levels of study available:

• Basic Math is designed for 4th and 5th graders.
• Advanced Math Skills is designed for middle school students, or those who may need additional help.
• Pre-Algebra Concepts is designed to prepare students for Algebra courses.
• Algebra

Each level of study includes a series of video lessons along with written exercises, quizzes and evaluations. The student watches the video, follows up with written exercises, and then wraps up each unit with a quiz. There are also final exams and course evaluations available to assess the student's knowledge and skill. 

The course website also includes a number of resources including: tables, glossaries, symbols, NCTM Standards and Speed Drills. 

Our Experience

We used the Pre-Algebra Concepts course. My 7th grader and I both viewed the videos. We found the lessons presented new concepts in a way that was easy to understand. Mr. Rick Fisher is an excellent math teacher and he teaches in an engaging manner. The written exercises are straightforward and include an appropriate amount of review.

America's Math Teacher, however,  is a new program and as such, they are still in the process of working out the kinks. We had several frustrating experiences with the program, mainly due to the fact that they changed the location of things on us a few times as they've modified the website's design. There are bugs to be worked out in the evaluations and quizzes as well.

The Bottom Line

Like any new website, America's Math Teacher still has a lot of work to do. But, this promises to be a wonderful new math curriculum for homeschool families. A family can gain a one year unlimited access subscription to the videos, written exercises, quizzes, tests, evaluations, as well as all of the other resources for $195. It is an incredible bargain, especially for families with two or more children, since this price covers the entire family -- whether you have one child or ten!

I received this product for free as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. My opinions are solely my own and are not influenced in any way. I am not being reimbursed in anyway for this review. What I have shared is simply our experience, your mileage may vary.

Let's Go Out and Throw the 'Ol Ball Around

If a picture says a thousand words, then this slideshow speaks volumes. We had a great time enjoying the nice weather this Labor Day weekend.

Review: Time 4 Writing

The Product

If the thought of teaching your child to write even a complete and cohesive sentence sends you running to the hills, then Time 4 Writing might be for you. Time 4 Writing is an online writing course for elementary, middle, and high school students. Each of those is broken into a variety of different courses according to your child's needs. For example, the elementary level offers the following courses: Elementary Grammar, Elementary Sentences, Elementary Paragraphs, and Elementary Essay. Each course is eight weeks long and provides 4-5 assignments each week. Students are matched up with a teacher who grades their work, providing comments, and corrections where necessary.

Our Experience

I used Time 4 Writing with my 4th grader and we chose to use the Elementary Paragraphs Course. I'd already used a program last year to help him learn to write sentences and structure a paragraph, but his paragraphs were still pretty weak. I was really excited to see if this online course could help him advance his paragraph writing skills a bit.

Each week the course begins with a video lesson that demonstrates the concept that will be the focus of the week. Ben didn't feel like the videos were very interesting. I watched several of them with him and it was a bit dry and also a bit distracting. The teacher is obviously reading from a prompt somewhere near the camera and her voice is fairly flat and unexciting. However, the videos are fairly short so students are able to move on to the actual work pretty quickly. Each week includes a couple of multiple choice quizzes, and a couple of opportunities to write their own sentences and paragraphs. The quizzes are graded automatically. The writing assignments are graded, usually within 24 hours, by the student's writing teacher. An email letting you know the assignment has been graded is supposed to come as soon as the grades are posted. We had a problem several times with this email not showing up, so we had to actually log in to see if the grades were ready. This was a bit frustrating, but not a deal-breaker for me. It was nice to have someone grading my son's work for a change. I was glad to have the perspective of another teacher. I did feel, however that she was sometimes too easy on him. Overall we were satisfied with our experience using Time 4 Writing.

The Bottom Line

Time 4 Writing would be a good fit for students who are really struggling with writing or for the homeschool student whose parent has a strong aversion to teaching writing. At a $99 per 8-week course, I do not find it to be very much of a value, however.

I received this product for free as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. My opinions are solely my own and are not influenced in any way. I am not being reimbursed in anyway for this review. What I have shared is simply my opinion of our experience, your mileage may vary.

Blogger Stats

Maybe I've been blind, but I just found out that Blogger has a Stats tab for blogger blogs. This is fascinating! I can see how many visits my pages have had today, this week, monthly, or all time. I can see where my traffic comes from, which google key words are being picked up on, and which of my posts are the most popular.

To celebrate this discovery I'm going list the most looked at blog posts here:

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2010~School Room Week
Not Back to School Blog Hop 2010~Curriculum Week
Homeschool is Not for Sale
Organizing a Sonlight Binder
Why Start Now
Building Accountable Kids

If you haven't already read these, I hope you enjoy!

A Day In the Life

It's usually about 6:30 am when the puppy wakes up and starts to whine to be let out of his confine in the laundry room. Simultaneously, I am resentful and grateful. Resentful because he inevitably interrupts a very restful state of sleep. Grateful because if it weren't for the puppy I'd probably sleep another hour until one of my children came crawling into my bed. I've come to depend on him to wake me early enough to have a few quiet moments before the hustle of the day begins.

Currently, this is how I am spending those quiet moments:

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young and The Red Sea Rules by Robert Morgan

Shortly after I've finished my quiet time the children start waking up, their hungry bellies driving them into the kitchen in search of food. Most mornings during the week they have either cereal or oatmeal with a piece of fruit. I'm not a big breakfast cooker, and they seem to prefer the ease of hot or cold cereal anyway. Lately, though, Luci's been preparing breakfast for herself and anyone else who wants eggs cooked in a cup. Breakfast is staggered...it is not often that they all three sit down at the same time.

Luci with her Cook it in a Cup eggs

It is Ben's family service chore to clear the breakfast dishes off of the table after everyone has finished.

Morning chores come next. Each of them has a list of chores to do each morning.

Luci's are: brush teeth, get dressed, brush hair, make bed, put dirty clothes in basket, and feed the animals (two dogs and two fish)

Ben's are: brush teeth, get dressed, brush hair, make bed, wipe off the bathroom counter, pick up dirty clothes, and as I mentioned, clear the breakfast table

Gavin's are: Brush teeth, make bed, get dressed, pick up dirty clothes, unload the dishwasher, and take out the kitchen trash (as needed)

While the kids do their chores I work on filling Ben and Luci's workboxes (our much modified version of Sue Patrick's workbox system) with the day's work. This is a pretty easy task since I keep a numbered list taped to the top of their workboxes and I just have to mark pages or tear out worksheets from the workbook and place them in the appropriate box.

Ben's Workbox

Gavin doesn't use workboxes, he uses a weekly checklist to complete his work. I print out his new checklist weekly.

Our school day usually begins at around 9 am. Our day is broken into four segments that allow me to work one-on-one with each of the children at different points throughout the day.

During the first segment of our day I work with Ben and Luci together. We do science and Bible during this time while Gavin does his own Bible study, blog or current events, and literature (reading) independently. When we finish that up I have Ben read his reader while I do math with Luci. We usually all finish up around the same time and then gather together for history. Ben and Luci listen in on Gavin's history lessons (with some exceptions) and Gavin listens in on theirs. Having them all study American History together is great!

Gavin reading blog comments

During the second segment of our day I work with Gavin. We do grammar and spelling and then we grade his math work from the previous day and go over the new lesson. We also discuss his science lessons and any experiments he is doing/has done. While I am working with Gavin, Ben and Luci both work on their history notebooks, science notebooks, and handwriting assignments.

Gavin working on Saxon Math 8/7

The third segment of our day usually begins right after lunch. During this segment I work on-on-one with Ben. He brings me his completed work so far (notebooks and handwriting) and I make corrections if necessary. We do his language arts lesson for the day as well as his spelling lesson. I also go over his new math lesson with him, unless he decides to watch his Math DVD (Dive) to learn the lesson instead. Most of the time he prefers to just go over it with me. While I work with Ben, Gavin is working independently on his assignments. This includes: history comprehension questions,  grammar assignment, writing assignment, vocabulary workbook, and math. Luci usually has some free time during this part of the day. She usually fills this time with some kind of quiet activity like drawing, or working on an arts & crafts project.

Luci reading her blends, Abeka Phonics

Luci reading

During the last segment of our day I do phonics/reading with Luci. While I work one-on-one with Luci, the boys are busy finishing up their independent work. In addition to the work Gavin was already busy with, he also adds science, Spanish, and physical education. Ben has been using an online writing program ( Time4writing.com, a product for which you will see a review tomorrow!) and then he completes his math work, then finishes up with  Spanish, typing, and physical education.

Ben, with heaphones, working at his desk

Our school day is usually finished by about 3 in the afternoon. Beginning this month Gavin will have piano lessons on Wednesdays at 2:30, so we will have to adjust a little each Wednesday to get finished in time. Once school work is finished, the kids each have a set of chores to do. They mostly involve picking up after themselves, but Gavin also has an additional chore that varies each day.

I hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of our school day. I'll leave you with this photo, which is a normal sight throughout our school day: