Keyboard Town Pals

From their website:
"Keyboard Town PALS Software  a computer keyboard program that teaches elementary school children the letters and symbols on a Qwerty keyboard in an hour using proper technique. It is fast and efficient as well as enjoyable and easy to learn. Keyboard Town PALS™ accomplishes this through the PALS system. PALS stands for PURPOSEFUL ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM.”


Parents can purchase the program in either a CD Rom or Web-based package for $39.95, with English, Spanish, and French versions available.

See a video demonstration:



Learning to type is an essential skill today.  Am I the only one, or does it seem that my children pick this up so much faster than I did...  Keyboard Town Pals is a typing program designed to teach even the younger children to type properly.  The characters help your child keep their focus on the screen and not their fingers.

The Bentz Test Laboratory enjoyed this program.  The puppets, the clever jingles were engaging at first to my 7 & 8 year old daughters. Younger children will find the puppets fun, older children may not "appreciate" them as much...    It is an instructional program, teaching the proper finger placement.  They could type anything without correction (not my favorite part - but, certainly not stressful to the student).  I do STRONGLY recommend that you participate with your children's typing education (especially if they are young).  A computer program can't correct the hand placement...so Mom needs to observe.

Check out a  to see what you think.

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

I was sent a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Review Crew.

Bower Books - The Person I Marry

The Person I Marry
Things I'll Think About Long Before Saying "I Do"
$11.99

Respect, kindness, honesty, faithfulness, thoughtfulness, patience - qualities like these make strong marriages. Created by award-winning author & illustrator team
Gary & Jan Bower (married 32 years), this
adorable book warms the hearts of all ages in its celebration of commitment, purity & true love!

Hardcover * 32 Pages
Beautifully Illustrated


The Person I Marry from Bower Books on Vimeo.

2010 Book of the Year ~ Christian Small Publisher Association

“This book is part of our “Bright Future Series” which shares Biblical principles for families in beautiful and down-to-earth ways. The Person I Marry was awarded “2010 Book of the Year” by the Christian Small Publisher Association. We created this book the year of our 30th anniversary as a tool for tenderizing the hearts of our own 12 children, and sparking comfortable conversation about marriage amongst ourselves”



I was eager to review this book.  I received a digital copy, but - I highly recommend getting your own hardcover copy to treasure.  This is one of those innocent looking, but powerful message books!  Our children are never too young to start learning about what's truly important.  Next to knowing and loving God, often your next most important decision is who to marry...  Don't you think we should start off right by letting them know what to look for?  I do.  Storybooks are a wonderful way to impart what you truly value without it becoming  a "lecture" from Mom and Dad.

The Bentz Test Laboratory enjoyed this rhyming storybook (but, pages would have been cozier than clicks...just my personal preference).  The illustrations are appealing.  In fact, while reading it to my girls, it made me thankful for the wonderful man that I married. What a great message! I'll be checking out the other books from them as well - I think you should too, they would make wonderful Christmas gifts...

Free Shipping on orders of $30 or more! (U.S. only)  Want your books Autographed? It's FREE! Just ask when you check out!

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

I was sent a complimentary digital version in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Review Crew.

Ooka Island Adventure

Ooka Island Adventure

From their website:
"The Ooka Island Adventure is a downloadable hero-mission in 3D designed to teach young children how to read fluently and well. The Ooka Island Adventure combines the highly engaging components of a state-of-the-art virtual world with the scientifically proven OokaMethod that builds literacy skills.


Carefully embedded within the Ooka Island Adventure are dozens of interactive instructional activities that captivate the child and motivate them as they learn essential pre-reading, reading, spelling, and writing skills. After completing the Ooka Island Adventure, children will be on their way to reading fluently and well for life."

Here's a handy chart to explain Pricing:

And if you sign up now, you can save 30%! Use promo Code LAUNCHSPECIAL30!

See a video explanation here:



Okay - now that you have all the vital information - let's get down to what the Bentz Test Laboratory thought...

SHE LOVED IT!

My 7 year old, struggling reader tester, LOVED this program!  In fact, I can even get her to make her bed if I let her go to "Oooka Island".  And, because our testers tend to travel together (8 kids, know what I mean...) her siblings really like it too!

You can check out the Ooka Island website to find out all the innovative features behind the program, I can tell you this - it's FUN!

It is a rather large download (2+ GB) so be sure to have high speed internet, and space on your hard-drive.
But, once loaded - it's so very easy, that your child can easily follow the directions and begin playing and learning.  We loved the passwords are pictures (I can never remember all those passwords!) even my youngest testers could figure these out.

I liked the focus on building from a solid phonic sounds base.  My tester got to hear the sounds and spot them along her "path".  Her favorites - Decorating Cakes, Bubbly Troubly and Saving Books. She also "really, really, really like the Popcorn Library". She was happily playing and reading away until her "time" (mommy directed) expired.

I'm all for extra "tools" to use in my quest to teach my children to read (and love it!).  I think Ooka Island is a wonderful addition to my toolbox.


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

I was sent a complimentary subscription in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Review Crew.

Classical Phonics & First Start Reading by Memoria Press

Classical Phonics & First Start Reading by Memoria Press-

Bentz Test Laboratory has a Kindergarten member this year. And, this is the perfect program for him!

Let's start at the beginning (like all good phonics programs do) with a description of these excellent resources:

"First Start Reading covers consonants, short vowels, 45 common words, and manuscript printing, accompanied by artist-drawn coloring pictures and drawing pages for every letter. Your child will begin reading in the very first lesson as he progresses through three student books and twentyfive phonetic stories, such as "Hogs and Pigs" and "Jog to the Jet." A Teacher Manual guides you through the program and provides helpful assessments and teaching tips."

First Start Reading:Phonics, Reading, and Printing (set of 3 + teacher guide)
by Cheryl Lowe - with Teachers Guide - $29.95 (just $21.95 for the Student Workbooks only)

What I liked: First Start Reading is a consumable workbook - working on phonics and handwriting all in one place (I much prefer one book to seperate programs for each "subject"). The best part, by Lesson 3, my tester got to read his first word! I just love being there for that, don't you? I never tire of that first sparkly-eyed - "I just read that all by myself" moment. These workbooks are very well done. Clean, crisp and visually appealing. You can see a sample of Book A here.

"Classical Phonics is a deceptively simple little book our teachers and families use constantly in both Kindergarten and first grade. It consists of phonetically-arranged word lists for students to practice their growing phonics skills. In a word list there are no context clues, so the learner must rely on his mastery of letter sounds. For instance, if your child can pronounce each word in this list correctly – pot, pat, pit, put, pet – he knows his short vowel sounds, and you can move on to long vowels! If not, he needs more practice, and Classical Phonics is the most effective tool I know of to address the repetition that young ones need when learning to read. Classical Phonics can be used as a supplement to any phonics program and covers nearly all English phonograms and sounds taught through second grade. Classical Phonics is your handy tool for phonics practice and for building confident readers. *A must-have supplement for First Start Reading! "


Classical Phonics:A Child's Guide to Word Mastery  by Cheryl Lowe
 is a NON-consumable (my favorite kind...) resource for just $14.95

What I liked: Classical Phonics is a companion (or not, depending on your preference) to the First Start workbooks.  It is very "uncluttered" simple drawing, black and white, plenty of visual "room".  I like that my student doesn't have alot of pictures to distract from focusing on the pure sounds of the words.  It contains lists of words in phonetic families for your child to read.  I am a huge fan of phonics based instruction.  I found this book to be a very useful resource to use with my struggling 1st grade reader as well. We even used it for simple spelling tests as well.  You can see a sample of this book here.

The Teacher's Guide is a valuable addition to the program, especially if you are new to teaching someone to read.  It guides you through each step of the lesson (and the pencil grip and letter formation information is invaluable!)

Memoria Press is worth taking a minute to visit - in fact, get a catalog here.  I have used many of their Latin products in the past, and I can tell you - quality is what they are all about.

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

I was sent a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Excellence in Literature

Excellence in Literature by Everyday Education

I just love to read!  I love books!  I love reading CLASSIC books! I want to give my children that same LOVE of books and reading!   Can you sense my excitement for this product?

A description from their website:
"Have you always wanted to read the Great Books? Now is your chance! With Excellence in Literature, you and your student can enjoy reading, understanding, and analyzing the greatest literature of all time. Excellence in Literature presents a feast of great literature along with the context information you need in order to fully understand it. "

Ok, I'm hooked! 

I was thrilled when I received by Ebook copy of Excellence in Literature: Reading and Writing through the Classics - just $27 (Print copies are available for $29 plus shipping).

Not long after graduating from college, I read an interesting newpaper article with a "list" of the books to have read if you were "educated".  I eagerly scanned the list, excited to see how many I had read (my love of books has been lifelong...) I was DEVASTATED to realize - even after a college degree, that I hadn't read even a fraction of that list!  That article inspired me to make sure that my children (and me as well) didn't get all the way through college and realize that we hadn't read enough classic literature to be considered "educated" - plus - I was motivated to learn all the treasures I had missed along the way.

Now that you have a peek into my literature philosophy, let me tell you how that relates to Excellence in Literature: Reading and Writing through the Classics.   I now have the means and a powerful teaching tool to introduce my children to classic literature (remember, I haven't read all of these yet!).  Janice Campbell has done the work of evaluating which books, and putting together all the "extras" that round out the learning process.  See how she picked the literature choices here.

Here's a description of the course, directly from them:
"The literature-based unit format of Excellence in Literature offers students the opportunity to grow thoroughly familiar with some of the greatest writers and literary works of all time. There are nine four-week units in each level.

Study and writing for each unit is centered around a full-length focus text— a novel, play, or poem— chosen for its significance to the period of literature being studied. A reasonable number of context works, including poetry, short biographies, art, music, videos, and online resources, are selected to enhance the student’s understanding of the focus text, its author, and the literary period in which it was created.

There is an emphasis on the analytical essay, which offers the opportunity to perfect the standard writing process of planning, drafting, and revising. Shorter assignments in various forms will round out each unit. "

My tester at Bentz Laboratory is an 8th grade student, who is a lover of literature (even classics, especially classics).  His comment - "When can I get started?"

Here's what I love the most - this is a SELF-DIRECTED course - it encourages your student to independent learning.  The lesson plans help you know what to do, and when (but all the time consuming research work is done for you - including context reading for the historical periods!).  There are also "Honors" selections for your student to earn advanced placement credit.  Best of all for you the teacher - Evaluation Rubrics to help you grade their work!

Here's the books you will be reading - I love how many of these are really "boy friendly"!

Unit 1: Short Stories by-
• Sarah Orne Jewett: A White Heron
• Edgar Allen Poe: The Purloined Letter (This one is not scary, if you're concerned about that.)
• Guy de Maupassant: The Diamond Necklace
• O. Henry: The Ransom of Red Chief
• Eudora Welty: A Worn Path
• James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Unit 2: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Honors: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Unit 3: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Honors: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Unit 4: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Honors: Shirley or Villette by Charlotte Brontë
Unit 5: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Honors: Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot
Unit 6: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Honors: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Unit 7: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Honors: 1984 by George Orwell
Unit 8: The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Honors: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Unit 9: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Honors: The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan


Get a Free Sample Unit here.

Other levels are available: You may order Introduction to Literature, Literature & Composition, American Literature, British Literature and World Literature

Free printable information sheet with 5-year booklist

I'm thrilled to have found the "perfect" literature program for us to take us from 8th grade to graduation.  And, I know my student won't see one of those "lists" and feel like they missed out!

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

I was sent a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Review Crew.

 

Marshall Publishing - George Washington Carver: His Life and Work DVD

George Washington Carvewr: His Life and Work - DVD

From their website:
"Born into slavery and reared during the Reconstruction years in the South, George Washington Carver struggled through poor health, poverty and prejudice…to become a great benefactor, not only to his people…but to his country as well. Carver is known in history books as the “peanut man” – for his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton. As one of the world’s foremost experts in agriculture and horticulture, Carver, through his research and teaching at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama practically reinvented land management in the South. He is said to have compiled a list of over 300 uses for and by-products of peanuts such as cosmetics, dyes and paints, plastics, gasoline and nitroglycerin.




But his work as a creative scientist stretches far beyond that endeavor. He marveled at the world around him and his ability to inspire those closely associated with him may well have been one of his greatest lifetime achievements. As a living example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude and a good education, Carver was instrumental in changing the stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race.

Here then, is the story of Carver’s life…a life that should not be forgotten, for it is full of hope, meaning and inspiration. To commemorate his life and inventions, George Washington Carver Recognition Day is celebrated on January 5, the anniversary of Carver's death."

The DVD is 30 min. long.  Designed for 4th Grade - Adult. You can access a Study Guide to use with it.

The Bentz Test Laboratory was excited to watch this video (yes, we are homeschoolers and we really LIKE educational movies!). We moved to Arkansas from Minnesota 2 years ago. With Grandparent in AR, we had been making the long trek south for many years.  We always pass the George Washington Carver National Monument in Neosho Missouri.  I have always wanted to stop and visit, but you know how husbands can be when trying to reach a destination! (that means - only "necessary" potty stops...)  But, now - after watching this video - the children and I are more determined than ever to "Stop the bus, Dad!" next time we drive by.

The video was well done, and very informative.  I loved how it showcased George Washington Carver's own words throughout and highlighted his Christian Worldview.  We learned much more about this amazing man than we had previously known.  And, it has sparked an interest to learn even more - exactly what I desire!  Homeschooling at it's best - something to create a "spark" that grows into a "fire" to learn something new.

You can purchase this DVD - for $19.95 online from Marshall Publishing.  They also have manyothers educational titles to choose from - check out the selection here.

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

I was sent a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Review Crew.

American Girl Club - Felicity - Week 2

Felicity - Week 2



This week the girls made paper fans, and played the "Game of Graces".

The fans were constructed out of beautiful, "colonial" look scrapbook paper - folded and glued to be sturdy.
Fan blades were held together on the bottom with a copper brad, and ribbon laced through each created the "fan".

We discussed the purposes for colonial girl's fans - not just keeping them cool... They also used them for "accessories", to whisper behind, and to hide that they hadn't brushed their teeth!

After completeing our fans, it was outside (beautiful fall day) to play the Game of Graces.  Ribbons were woven around a circle (otherwise known today as the inner ring of an embroidery hoop) and the girls used sticks to GRACEFULLY toss the pretty ring back and forth to each other.

The MCA discussed how doing the "small, hard things" can add up to a really BIG hard thing over time!

The littles had a great time playing follow the leader in the back yard.

So very thankful for this wonderful group of families!  We welcomed the 10th "little" - Maggie Elizabeth Hopp born on American Girl Club day!  (how perfect is that!)