The Homegrown Preschooler: Teaching Your Kids in the Places They Live by Gryphon House : A TOS Crew Review

The Homegrown Preschooler: Teaching Your Kids in the Places They Live by Gryphon House 


From their website:
"Transform your home into a learning environment that rivals the best preschool classroom!
Find exciting learning opportunities in everyday occurrences, from using laundry to teach sorting to exploring growth cycles in the garden, with the easy-to-organize, simple-to-start ideas, advice, and activities in The Homegrown Preschooler.

As straightforward as a parenting how-to book and as easily applicable as a set curriculum, The Homegrown Preschooler will inspire parents to use their homes as classrooms and take advantage of the naturally rich learning opportunities existing in everyday life!

With organizational tips, recipes, and more than 200 easy-to-pull-together activities, homeschool educators will have everything they need to offer a well-rounded preschool education rivaling the best classroom experience. Convenient charts and checklists to document children’s growth ensure that there are no gaps in educational, social, or physical development."

224 pages, paperback - Pre-K  Take a peek inside!

Cost:  $29.95




Bentz Test Academy is down to our last preschooler :-(   How did this happen?  With 8 children, it felt like the preschool years would go on forever. Like all good things - they were bound to end someday...but - NOT YET!  I plan to enjoy every minute of this! This is our adorable preschool tester - Essie!

The Homegrown Preschooler: Teaching Your Kids in the Places They Live by Gryphon House 
arrived in the mailbox - just as I am starting to plan our 4 year old's preschool year.  What a GODSEND!

I know, I've done this a few times.  Even if you are an "old dog" at preschool, you will want to learn some of these "new tricks!"  The Homegrown Preschooler is a beautiful, full-color book filled with inspiration. 

The Nine chapters  feature time-tested wisdom and child development insight from the author's own experience.  In addition, recipes, quotes, and personal notes will make you feel like you are looking at a family scrapbook.  I loved reading through this book!  It made me wish I had a couple more preschoolers to try all these ideas with.

The book is designed with two sections - First - the author's help you set your goals and really "paint a picture" of what the preschool years should look like.  Learning right where your preschool is - with you!  Their focus is on enjoying this special time together.

The Second half of the book is where you will find all the wonderful, developmentally appropriate activities for your preschooler.  You will not have to spend hours on Pinterest looking for ideas...they are all right here - easy to find! 

All throughout the book - recipes, housekeeping tips, and schedules will help you balance the rest of your life while teaching and learning with your preschooler.

The lists of resources at the end of the book are a valuable treasure.  Directions for building your own light and sensory tables are included too! Don't miss the FREE RESOURCES page on their website -  hundreds of ideas are waiting for you.

I wish I had a beautiful guide like the Homegrown Preschooler at the beginning of my homeschool journey.  It's like having a trusted friend to grab you by the hand, and help direct you on the path of learning together. 

Chapter 9 - Special Circumstances will help you understand the special path some of us get to travel. If you find yourself here, it's nice to have a friend to walk with. 

Chapter 10 - Activities.  Here is where you will find the great ideas!  From nature activities, home life skills, fine motor activities and plenty more - this is a comprehensive list (more than 80 pages of ideas!)  Keep this book handy so may great ideas that would work well with lots of other ages too.

One of my favorite lists: the book activities to go with many of our favorite children's books. The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle has been a long-time family favorite - now, my driveway is filling up with "chalk caterpillar hopscotch"  A great new activity twist to a re-discover a book I've been reading for many years!

I have truly enjoyed reading through this book to get inspired.  You will too!  Other members of the TOS Crew took a look at another family-favorite - Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World,  check out what they had to say!

 

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew

   

Touch Math - Preschool : A TOS Crew Review

From their website:

" TouchMath  - (Levels PreK - 2nd Grade).  "TouchMath is a multisensory program that uses its signature TouchPoints to engage students of all abilities and learning styles."

Pre-K Level:  "The skills presented in the program incorporate activities in Readiness/Number Sense (basic counting and relating groups of objects, sorting and classifying, and patterning), Spatial Sense (describing shapes, identifying them in the environment, sorting and classifying, and matching), and Number Concepts (representing, counting, and associating quantities with objects and TouchPoints). The skills are developed sequentially from hands-on activities with concrete objects to application of the skills using pencil and paper with guidance."



Cost: $59.95
Age Range: Pre-K, approximately ages 3-5

New to TouchMath?  Watch this introductory video:
  

 The Bentz Test Laboratory was very excited to get to try out TouchMath - PreK Homeschool.  Years ago, my sister-in-law, who is a special education teacher, introduced us to this program.

 

My testers are both preschool age girls (who LOVE doing school so much they follow me around begging to do more of it!).  One tester is 5 years old (but not in K yet) the other is 3.

 

 

The backbone of TouchMath Homeschool is the downloadable program.  It is a sizable PDF file containing 6 modules of learning. 

• Counting & Number Sense
• Comparing & Classifying
• Sorting, Classifying, Graphing & Patterning
• Identifying, Sorting, and Classifying 2-D Shapes
• Identifying, Sorting, and Classifying 3-D Shapes and Coins
• Representing Quantities and Numbers

TouchMath is a very comprehensive program.  A bit more than the average homeschool mom needs - but, carefully designed to meet the standards in place in more "institutionalized" settings.

We printed off  the workmats for module one and jumped right in.  I like that I can decide what to print/and what not to print (there's alot of information about how to use the program & the methodology -  just 15 "workmats" to print for the first module).  TouchMath recommends daily lessons in the amount of about 2.5 times their age in years.  Keeping the lessons short is key in keeping attention spans occupied.  I've learned from years of experience - cut off the lesson at the high point, it makes them want to come back for more!

It starts our simple and concrete and moves to more abstract.  The hands-on manipulatives were a huge hit.  They are bright, and a great way to engage your tactile learners.  In fact, I opened the box - and they squealed (no lie...they squealed)  Their favorites were the Texture Cards, hands-down.  The bright colors and themes kept them exploring set after set. (they exceded their daily math lesson time...)  Another tip from teaching math...the best math learning looks like play.

In my opinion, the strenth of this program is in the additional manipulatives.  Some children are more ready for paper/pencil work than others at this age (even within the same family).  Using both approaches made the lessons more memorable.

 

 3D Numerals- $79.00 - 3-D Numerals are made of brightly-colored, durable plastic — a perfect multisensory manipulative for young children or children with learning differences. Students can touch and count the raised TouchPoints as they learn the correct Touching/Counting Patterns and begin to understand numeral/quantity association. Activity Booklet with reproducible masters and lots of ideas included.

 

Touch Shapes - $30.00 -  There are 108 transparent geometric shapes in the set. They include circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, rhombuses, and hexagons, for a total of six shapes. Each shape comes in three sizes of small, medium, and large and six colors of red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and purple.



Texture Cards - $99.00 Free samples can be downloaded here.  "Five sets of cards (45 cards), each with its own texture and theme — Shapes, Fruit, Forest Animals, Sea Life and TouchPoints. Each set has cards for the numerals 1–9 and is designed to help you teach number recognition, numeral/quantity association, counting and vocabulary. The back of the cards show the numeral with TouchPoints and Touching/Counting Patterns."

 

 

I really liked this program. The manipulatives are a bit expensive, but - they are well constructed and worth the investment.   My testers adored the program as well.  One of the best organized introductions to math I've ever seen.

 

 

 

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew

   

Flowering Baby, LLC - a TOS Crew Review

Yippee - the 2013 TOS Review Season is underway!

 I'm excited to be on my 3rd year with the TOS Crew.    Just to let you know, we are curriculum junkies at Bentz Test Laboratory - and we get giddy when packages come in the mail.  I hope you will discover some valuable treasures for your homeschool as you come along with us.  You can count on getting some honest opinions from an ACTUAL homeschool mom about these products.  I like to think of it as our way of saving YOU time and money.

I hope you get as excited as we do!

Our first product:


Flowering Baby, LLC

from their website:

A whole child developmental approach for birth to five -

 

  "A curriculum for parents and teachers hoping to share the hundreds of simple and inexpensive ways parents, caregivers and teachers can affect a child’s development. Our program is designed by year and broken down by month. You can start the program at any time, in any given year."
Cost - $30 - 38.00 (download) Purchase the entire 5 Volume Set - $132.00 - Use the code "Blog10" to get 10% off!

Birth to One - One to Two -Two to Three -Three to Four- Four to Five
 

The Bentz Test Laboratory tested the "Three to Four" Volume 4  alongside the "Four to Five" Volume 5.

Each level consists of 2 parts:
 

 The MonthlyCurriculum Guide - 12 months of  activities including: math, language, science, physical, self-help and more
 

 The Theme Curriculum Guide  -  Twenty-four specific themes (mini unit studies 2 per month)  

 

See a sample of a full month 3 Year Curriculum  here  and 4 Year Curriculum here

Now that you have all the important information about Flowering Baby, LLC - on to what the Bentz Test Laboratory thought.

Tester #1 is 3 years old (the baby of our family...but, don't call her a baby - she'll inform you she is now a "big girl")

Tester #2 is 5 (slightly older than the recommended age - but, also slightly delayed in her academic progress).

Having a "houseful to homeschool" - grades 9 down to preschool, a large amount of time and attention goes to the upper level student's needs.  I know this is "backwards" - they should be more and more independent learners - and they truly are.  But, a curriculum designed for my "littles" was exactly what I was looking for!

Flowering Baby, LLC is a downloadable product (some members of TOS Crew recieved a CD copy).  I like that it's easily accessible, and I can pick/choose what I want to print, and what I don't.  I do tend to "overprint" - all you homeschool moms know what I'm talking about. But, we got to support the family by purchasing toner constantly (afterall, my hubby works for HP...) 

I printed the Three to Four and the Four to Five Guides - but, wished I hadn't printed it (we'll probably get a thank you for all our ink use..each Guide is over 100 pages).  It would be very easy to just access your PDF instead.

Flowering Baby, LLC may seem quite simplistic, at first.  "Read a book" appears over and over...  I can tell you, I "know" this - read, read, read to your young children. BUT, somehow buried in the pages of Geometry, Hindi, and Essay Writing with a High Schooler - I think I need a constant reminder of the importance of sitting down to read to them. But, don't be fooled - this curriculum is very carefully designed with purpose!  Each activity develops a solid foundation of cognitive, language, gross motor, fine motor, social and self-help skills. 

The Monthly Theme Curriculum Guides for both of these levels were quite similar - very nice if you have several young children working together at different levels.   You are encouraged to do the themes in any order, and skip them if they aren't right for your family.  Each theme contains approx. 6 days of activities.  Examples: Dinosaurs, Musical Instruments, Flowers, My Body, Christmas, etc.

The Curriculum Guides are laid out in a calendar month, with 10-15 days of activities for each month.  The guide is not dated - so you can jump in wherever you are at, and not worry about checking those pesky dated boxes!  Activities take about 30-45 minutes to complete.

"Three to Four" focused on learning to recognize lower and upper case lettters, counting to ten, shapes/patterns, science projects, holidays,  music appreciation and cutting (I hate cutting...but, it's necessary to give them scissors sooner-or-later)

"Four to Five" focused writing letters and phonic awareness, counting to 20 (if your child is ready for more - they do include curriculum recommendations) , science experiments, holidays, music in a variety of styles (Mozart to Country Western), introduction to Spanish language, and more cutting!

One of my favorite parts was the inclusion of wonderful, age appropriate book lists.  READ, READ, READ! Learning Through Stories is their version of Charlotte Mason's narration for young children - with questions included in the Appendix for many well-loved classic children's stories.

Necessary supplies for the activities are listed, in advance - are are readily available for the most part.

My Testers throughly enjoyed a focused "school time" - just for them!  I loved having a resource that was age appropriate, and so clearly explained.   You can just pick this up and begin.  No "educational theories" to learn first.   The Guides are packed with tons of creative - but "easy to do" ideas.  Busy moms need to keep it simple, but effective!  Plus, it's a very affordable program. 

One focus in January was "snow" - We were inspired to create our own circle snowmen.  They practiced writing their names too. 


"Snow" was such a huge hit - Tester #1 wanted her Valentine box to be a snowman!










The focus of Flowering Baby is simple -  ENJOY this journey with your children.  Read, play,explore and learn together.  The program is very easy to use, and fun memories are waiting to be made.  Geometry is right around the corner, trust me!
 

See what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought here.