Almanzo Wilder DVD Review "Life Before Laura"

Presents

 

Everyone who knows me, knows that I am not a big TV or movie watcher, so I was a bit nervous about this TOS Review Crew task of watching the Almanzo Wilder DVD entitled Life Before Laura. Legacy Documentaries has done an EXCELLENT job with this DVD. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed watching, I think it brought back some childhood memories of watching Little House On The Prairie. Homeschool Momma, Dad & only child sat down to watch this DVD together.

What this homeschool Momma liked about the Almanzo Wilder DVD entitled Life Before Laura.

1) Love the entire DVD!
2) Teaches work ethic and doing a good job no matter what the chore is.
3) Great for both boys & girls to watch.
4) Spent a wonderful family evening together watching.
5) FOOD! Oh, my the talk of food, it was so good sounding! We had just eaten dinner and watching this made us hungry all over again!
6) Talk of courtship.
7) The sketches throughout were beautiful.
8) Parts of the show reminded me of playing with paper dolls.
9) Excellent reminder of parental roles!
10) Reminder of the role that children play in the home.
11) The DVD teaches the importance of education, bonding of family, honesty, hard work, siblings getting along and much more!

What this homeschool Momma did not like about the Almanzo Wilder DVD entitled Life Before Laura.

1) I was sitting there at the end thinking "MORE, MORE, MORE! So I was wishing for a longer DVD.

What the homeschool teenager liked about the Almanzo Wilder DVD entitled Life Before Laura.

1) I liked the excerpts from the "Farmer Boy" book.
2) THE FOOD! YUMMY!
3) It made me want to go to the Homestead and see it for myself.
4) It was pretty cool to see the places that I had read about.
5)I liked how the excerpts were acted out. Everyone looked different than I had expected.
6) I liked how it taught about having control over your temper.
7) It taught the importance of education and honesty.
8) Talked about parental authority.
9) I like the horses and seeing what went into training them.

What the homeschool teenager did not like about the Almanzo Wilder DVD entitled Life Before Laura.

1) Can't think of a thing! Maybe wishing it was longer?

Below is a YouTube video of a portion of Almanzo Wilder DVD entitled Life Before Laura by Legacy Documentaries which retails for $21.95, the DVD is suitable for all ages from those that have enjoyed having Farmer Boy read them to up through adulthood. The Walnut Grove Store carries the DVD along with other treasures from the days of Laura's life and Almanzo's life.

 

We really enjoyed the telling of how the books were written, how there was such a drastic difference in the way that Almanzo and Laura grew up in regards to the abundance of food in the Wilder home verses the Ingalls home. The romanace was so sweet and innocent throughout. Life on the farm is seen, the background of what Almanzo's life was life before he met Laura. There was an explaination of how the Wilder and Ingalls family came to live where they did. There is some discussion about the Wilder Homestead as well as some exciting places to visit and vacation ideas for the family that likes Little House On The Prairie.

 

All and all this is a family friendly video with much learning involved, very well produced and a great documentary.

 

Science For High School: Physical Science Review

As members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew we have had the exciting opportunity to review the Physical Science program from Science for High School. The program is called High School Physical Science In Your Home for the last several weeks in our homeschool. This course is for grades 9-12, but I think in home education you can use it with junior high aged kids if they are ready for the material. High School Physical Science In Your Home comes with a student and a teacher manual.

OK, first let me tell you what my experience with science has been. To me science was reading a chapter in the science book, memorizing the bold terms/definitions, answering the chapter checkup questions, taking a weekly quiz/test. Maybe doing a science poster or short write up once in awhile. Basically rote memorization skills were practiced in my kind of science. Toss those ideas right out the window with Science For High School.

Imagine a home school science curriculum actually written by a home school mom! After using the curriculum I am realizing that she understands that most home school Mommy’s don’t have a clue about science :O) This little sentence in the teacher manual sold me…lol. “(As in all home schools, we bend and fit all curricula to our home.) LOVE IT! Author Bridget Ardoin has been a home schooling mom for the past 12+ years. Ardoin has a degree in microbiology and has taught science in private high schools.

My student used the library, books, textbooks (what homeschooler is lacking in any type of book? LOL), science magazines and the Internet. I would caution the Internet use for research, be sure that your student is using legitimate websites. There is a lot of junk science out there.

For the High School Physical Science In Your Home review we received a Student Manual that was 3 hole punched, quizzes, a final exam for each semester and a spiral bound teacher edition. You can go here to purchase for $79.99. If you have more than one student you will need to purchase additional lab books here for $24.99. I love that you can go here to purchase the lab kit for $45.00. To save $ you can purchase the HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN YOUR HOME TOTAL PACKAGE for $110.00.
 

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS:

Each week I would give our son 1 Lab Sheet and 1 Experiment Sheet to work on, he had the next 7 days to prepare, take a quiz over previous material and then present his written material for the new week in a discussion format. Pretty simple for the teacher if you ask me :O) Our discussion time usually took on some added chatter…lol. I picked Thursday as our day to do this since it’s a less busy school day for us and allows for some fun and relaxed interaction.

 

What this homeschool Momma liked about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) Simple to use teacher‘ manual! LOL…Have I ever said that I can’t stand a teachers manual or answer key that is hard to use? Ya know the kind, where you have to hunt through the reading materials to find the tiny little number that matches the question that you are grading! Super easy teacher manual here with Science For High School with ANSWERS!.

2) I’m seeing 4-H projects written all over this curriculum!!

3) DISCUSSION! LOVE IT!! Each week you sit down with your child and they discuss with you the research that they did that week on the assignment. If you have more than 1 child this is a great opportunity for them to absorb the information while sitting in on the discussion :O)

4) BONUS! A high school curriculum that prepares homeschoolers for college? GREAT! The author brings this up when explaining how to give quizzes and tests. “This gives the student a chance to develop skills to study for a quiz while having other assignments, something that will prove useful while in college.”

5) I think that no matter what learning style your child has High School Physical Science In Your Home will fit the bill. It touches on all learning styles

6) I’m thinking Homeschool Co-op Class with this curriculum!!! You know we are always looking for something challenging in a homeschool Co-op for our teens!

7) A good reminder! The author reminds us as homeschool moms that some colleges and universities want to see copies of the student lab notes.

8) Easy list of items needed for the experiments, so far I have not had to hunt far for items, I’ve pretty much had them on hand. Though I am glad I looked ahead to second semester, there are a few things I will need to hunt up.

9) She gives an idea of how to score the quizzes and tests, which is nice, sometimes with homeschool materials I have had to stand on my head to figure out how to give a grade.

10) EUREKA!! Second Semester we learn about the Periodic Table of Elements, you ask “What on earth is that?” lol…Yeah, homeschooling Sista, I am right there with ya! And I plan to learn this right along with my child. All I can say is Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!

11) So far what we have worked through has really had a college feel to it, the way the material is laid out, the lab sheets and the discussion each week. Many college classes, not just science are using the discussion format each week.

12) Everything is laid out plain as day for you! LOVE IT!
　

What this homeschool Momma didn’t like about High School Physical Science In Your Home:

1) When we first got the materials someone (home school student who shall remain nameless…lol) decided to take the High School Physical Science In Your Home student materials in the car to review, without first putting them in a 3 ring binder (not included) and they dumped all over and had to be picked up and put back together. They are now secured in a 3 ring binder.

2) I thought that a few of the labs were a bit grade schoolish or middle schoolish to me. I was expecting a bit more difficulty across the board. But I think that High School Physical Science In Your Home would be a great place to start if your homeschool science program has been lacking in experiments because the first semester ones were pretty simple and the second semester ones seem more advanced. It could be a confidence booster for your homeschooler.

3) I do have some concern about this program when it comes to my son being interested in a medical career. I am just not sure that it meets the standards of the tough STEM requirements. STEM education is an acronym for the areas of study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United States.

What this homeschool student liked about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) I kinda got to look up things that I wanted to look up and study things the way I wanted to study them :O)

2) I liked the experiments, sometimes they did not work out, but I had fun with them.

3) I can’t wait to get to second semester to study electricity, I think this might help with my 4-H electricity project next year. COOL!

4) I like how the author tells us in our student manual that we need to do a little bit of work each day. If she had not said this I would probably have waited until the night before to work on it.

What this homeschool student didn’t about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) This was a totally different way of doing science that was very new to me. So I think it’s going to take some getting use to the change.

2) It was a bit hard for me to keep motivated to work each day on my own, Mom had to nag me at first, but then I started to look forward to working on my research.

I really like the program as it seems very easy to use, but as I said above I have reservations regarding the STEM and college admissions if your child will be entering a career field that is heavy on science. So if you have a student that will need a strong science background look over the material and decided if this is for you. We plan to use this as a supplement to our current science program.

 

Please see what my buddies had to say about Science For High School products, some got to review chemistry and biology.

Memoria Press Review

As reviewers for The Old Schoolhouse Magazines Review Crew we were fortunate to receive the Geogoraphy I set set from Memoria Press. My son was very excited when the box arrived, geography is his thing! Here is what we got in our box.
Geography I: Middle East, North Africa, and Europe $14.95
Geography I: Middle East, North Africa, and Europe Student Workbook $11.95
Geography I: Middle East, North Africa, and Europe Teacher Guide $12.95
United States Student Workbook $5.00
United States Teacher Key, Quizzes, and Tests $7.95
You can purchase these as a set for just $48.00.
Here are some sample pages from the Geography I lesson materials that are geared towards 4th-8th grade students.

What this homeschool Momma liked about the Memoria Press Geography I.

1. I like the full size maps to write on for easy labeling of counties, states, capitals, and other areas.
2. Nice thick workbook pages, these are great for boys that have to erase a lot...lol...keeps paper from tearing.
3. Nice sturdy book covers that don't seem to rip easily.
4. Nice large spaces to write information in, boys don't much like to try to write answers on short lines.
5. Material was VERY easy to move through.
6.The teacher answer key was VERY easy to read, no small print and the maps were easy to read too. With homeschool Momma eyes (you tend to get these after your first few years in home education...lol) I like to be able to see just exactly where that dot is on the map for Brussels while making sure that my student is not pointing towards Antwerp or the Scheide River...lol.
7. Love how the student pages remind the student to practice good spelling habits. Sometimes it's hard to get it across to our children that spelling is one of those subjects that needs to be worked on across the entire curriculum and not just in "spelling class."
8. I like how the United States & Capitals Review teaches the states by regions, it makes a lot of sense to teach them this way. I have seen other curriculum teach states in alphabetical order.

What this homeschool Momma did not like about the Memoria Press Geography I.

1. I did not see a daily guide and I like things totally laid out for me, but it does say in the teacher information section that you will do 2-3 countries each week as you study each section for 8 weeks at a time.
2. I also did not see a grading scale for quizzes or tests. I like to know what each is worth for giving grades.
3. The books do not have colored pages in them, I like my textbooks/workbooks to have color and flair. If I had just picked up the Geography I set at a curriculum fair or convention table and just flipped through it, I probably would have put it back since I did not see color in the book. I will note that on the Memoria Press Geography I set webpage there are links to click on that show the color pictures that are in the student textbook. I don't think I would want to rabbit trail over to the computer to find color pictures each day.

What this homeschool student liked about the Memoria Press Geography I.

1. I like how it gave the meanings of the flags for each country.
2. I really like the Fast Facts, history and geography are my two favorite subjects.
3. I liked how you got to color in the flags with the outline instead of drawing them. I don't much care to draw unless it's Star Wars or something ;-)
4. I liked how the states and capitals were a review to go along with the geography.
5. I liked how it reminds me to watch for spelling, it's easy to forget this when you are not in "spelling class."
6. I liked how the activities built on each other such as match the states and capitals, then identifying them.

What this homeschool student did not like about the Memoria Press Geography I.

1. Wished that I did not have to go to the website to see the pictures in color.

This was a fun review to do since it was my students favorite subject. Memoria Press also offers subject matter in the following areas they are not just about geography. They also offer Latin, Classical Studies, Christian Studies, Logic & Rhetoric, Phonics & Early Reading, Penmanship, Literature & Poetry, American & Modern Studies, Writing & English Grammar, Science, Greek, Modern Languages, Educational Resources, eBooks, and Special-Needs links on their website.



Review of Joyce Herzog's Budding Authors & 6 Weeks to Understanding Grammar

Joyce Herzog is an accomplished author and speaker of many resources for homeschoolers. I've seen her speak a number of times at homeschool conventions on a variety of topics. She is a real gem to say the least. We were given copies of the Budding Authors series to review for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. Now let me start out by saying that I am so use to using Turn Key Operation homeschooling materials, this left me a bit out there. I like to see Day 1 we do this, Day 2 we do that. We are not in Kansas anymore Toto...lol. But this material was very easy to follow despite my worries and fears...lol. We used this material with our 12 year old 7th grader.
The first book is Step Into Writing Budding Authors in the Budding Authors series and is $10.00. The second book Step On Into Writing Budding Authors in the Budding Authors series is also $10.00. Both stressed the importance of using your best penmanship, punctuation and work spacing. Your students daily work should take around 10 minutes at most. This book is suppose to contain dictionary pages, which I did not find in the book. I really liked the idea of C,P,S, paper. Each page has a section off to the side marked with those letters. Once the child is done writing, they know to check for C=Capitalization, P=Punctuation and S=Spelling. Even though we did not use this book (it was too easy for our 7th grader) I plan to implement the use of the C,P,S, system since it's easy for our son to forget to go back and look over his work.

I really liked the quote in the book "Do not expect your learner to correct and concentrate on all skills at once!" Oh, as homeschool mommas we all need to hear that sometimes, don't we? Many times we expect way too much from our kiddo's in the area of picking up on concepts and them putting them to use.

These first two books are set up with copy work, dictation (love that, helps kids to learn to listen), experience story in which the parent and child discuss the picture that is on the writing page. The child tells you the story and you write it out in their own words in the first book, the second book you do the same thing except the child writes out the story.

We started out with book number three Adventures In Writing Budding Authors in the Budding Authors series which is $10.00. This book concentrates on "Writing short stories in a single paragraph." Again each page has a picture to look at to get an idea and then there are word boxes to help the student write the story. Later on there are blank word boxes for the child to get key word ideas down first before writing the story.

We also got book number four Then and Now Budding Authors in the Budding Authors series which is $12.00. Your student will learn to "Write comparisons in two paragraphs." This book has a note to the reader with a touching story of how the book came into being. This book teaches what a good paragraph is, ordering of ideas, using 3x5 index cards to get ideas down and in order. Your student will learn thinking, organizing and writing skills through the use of this book.

We did not get to the Writing U.S. History Budding Authors in the Budding Authors series yet, but plan to work through it this summer. This book is $15.00 and gives a quick overview of how to take notes on 3x5 index cards and work on researching topics and writing them. There is a letter to the student (I think that this helps the student to feel important and take ownership of the material) giving details of how this book is laid out and what is expected of the student. After glancing through this book I can now see where our former curriculum went wrong! It was not detailed enough and expected way too much from the student too soon.

We are very pleased to be able to use these materials from Joyce Herzog and I totally recommend these to any homeschooler, but especially to those that have struggling writers, they can become budding authors through using Joyce Herzog's materials.

We were also given a copy of 6 Weeks to Understanding Grammar to review. WOW!!! What a little book this is! It's like a Cliff Notes book for grammar. We loved this! The only thing that I found a problem with was that on page 12 there is a partial sentence and the rest of the paragraph is missing. I think that this little book would be a great study companion for the SAT/ACT testing. It's definitely worth the $12 for your student!

 

The Joyce Herzog website has a lot of great links and explanations about her books on it. If you even have the chance to hear Joyce Herzog speak do it. I've come away with so much from her talks.

 

We did not find anything in this review that we did not like. We had fun and our son learned how to write and form well read paragraphs. Thanks TOS Review Crew for another fun learning experience.

"Science Naturally" book review

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew we were sent a copy of One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! to review. You can find additional books by Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder from Science Naturally by clicking here. This book as just been awarded the coveted "Recommends" from NSTA!

We were already familiar with the Sciencenaturally.com since we had read One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve With Math!, so we were very eager to read get One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! The book also contains 5 bonus mysteries that involve using math skills to solve the problems.

One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! has 180 pages is written for 8-12 year olds and can be purchased for $9.95 by going to www.sciencenaturally.com.

The book is set up where you solve 65 mini mysteries with science and if you have read my blog in the past you will find that science is not my favorite subject, but the book made science fun! Read through my entire review and you can receive a special offer from Science Naturally!

What this home school Momma liked about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

1) I like how it brought science to life with everyday topics
2) LOVE the critical thinking skills that you need to solve these mysteries.
3) The book was easy to use, we brought it in the car with us and would read while we were going down the road. (beats the Ipod being on…lol)
4) This would be a fun summer time book, learning while on break is always great.
5) Covers Life Sciences, Earth & Space Sciences, Physical & Chemical Sciences and General Sciences.
6) The stories were written in a fun way and engaged our son very well.

What this home school momma did not like about  One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

1) Wish that they had been a bit more challenging, but the book is for 8-12 year olds and my student is almost 13, so it’s for the younger kids.

What this home school student liked about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

1) I liked how some were easy and some were hard.

2) They made me have to think.

3) The book was fun.

What this home school student did not like about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

1) Wish that there was more of a clear break between the mystery and the solution, because it was way too easy to just accidental flip the page and start reading the answer. Maybe like a picture of a STOP SIGN at the end of each mystery to remind you to STOP!
2) Wish that there were more books by them to read.

I think that these would be fun for using on a sporadic basis during science class. A fun thing to pull out and surprise the kids with during summer break.

I wish that they would come out with a book for chemistry, biology and physics for older kids.

Special offer from Science Naturally: purchase any 3 books from the Science Naturally by clicking here and get 3 books for $19.95 with shipping of just $2.95 (these retail for $35.80 a $12.90 savings just for reading my review!) Enter coupon code 3SPEC in your shopping cart. ENJOY!

Hope you enjoy this book as much as we did!

  

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Progeny Press Review of The Hobbit & Treasure Island Interactive PDF Study Guides.

As members of The Old Schoolhouse Magazines Review Crew we have been privileged to receive The Hobbit Interactive Study Guide instant download for grades 8th-12th as well as the Treasure Island Study Guide grades 7th-10th from Progeny Press.

 Prices: $21.99 Printed Booklet, $18.99 CD, $18.99 Instant Download The book The Hobbit can be purchased from Progeny Press for just $8.99 for paperback. There are a few extras that are needed to do a complete study, but they are items that most of us already have on hand on our bookshelves such as: a good dictionary, Bible, topical Bible, concordance, encyclopedias, Internet access and a thesaurus.

The Hobbit Interactive Study Guide is for 8th-12th grade students, our 7th grade student was able to use this product from Progeny Press with no problems.

I will be the first to admit that I have always been under the impression that The Hobbit was not a book for Christians to read, well grab a snack & drink and come join me in finding out just how wrong this assumption was on my part.

 

"Looking for more than activity sheets or a who-did-what series of questions? Want to dig into the essence of the novel? This study guide provides easy-to-use, reproducible lessons on literary terms, comprehension and analysis, critical thinking, related scriptural principles, vocabulary, and activities, plus a complete answer key." From the Progeny Press Website.

 

What the student liked about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

 

1) I liked how the study guide gave background information about the author, I always like to know more about who wrote the book.

2) It made literature and language fun.

3) I was able to save my answers in the PDF files.

4) I can't wait to go over this study guide with some friends who have also read The Hobbit.

5) I did not have to hand write my answers. YEAH for me!

 

What the student did not like about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

 

1) I wish that I had more time to complete the review, we had a short amount of time to use this product and I can't wait to complete the projects that are included in the study guide.

 

 What this homeschool Momma liked about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

1) I loved how it used the Bible to explain things.

2) The Note to Instructor section was great! Extra teaching helps are always appreciated.
3) By using the Progeny Press Interactive Study Guides you can award 1/4 credit hour on your students high school transcripts. I really like knowing this because it can sometimes be hard to figure out just how much a course is worth.
3) This study guide it full of thought provoking questions.
4) WONDERFUL answer key! Sometimes having a GREAT answer key can make the world of difference in teaching. It helps me to explain concepts better as well as takes the guessing game out of, "Do they really understand this material?"
5) The Interactive PDF was great, I did not have to hear any complaining about having to write...lol. What homeschool Momma of a 7th grade boy loves to NOT have to hear that? lol
6) I liked the features like Parallelism, Dig Deeper Activities and Character Sketches.
7) It incorporates music too.
8) Teaches riddles and proverbs for critical thinking.
9) This was not an overwhelming study, we did a section per week.

What this homeschool Momma did not like about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

1) NOTHING! Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner, we have another great product here!


 We were also give a copy of the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide which retails for  Price: $18.99 Printed Booklet, $16.99 CD, $16.99 Instant Download. Again we were given the instant download version. The Treasure Island paperback book can be purchased from Progeny Press for $8.00. This is for grade 7th-10th. There are a few extras that are needed to do a complete study, but they are items that most of us already have on hand on our bookshelves such as: a good dictionary, Bible, topical Bible, concordance, encyclopedias, Internet access and a thesaurus.  

What the student liked about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

 

1) FUN FUN FUN!! I liked how the PDF study guide brought the book to life.

2) The pre-reading activities were fun too, I liked researching the different types of ships.

3) I learned some new words that I did not know before and I really liked how I could place my mouse over a word & right click, then click on "look up" to find the meaning of words.

 

What the student did not like about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

 

1) Nothing!

   

 

What this homeschool Momma liked about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

1) Pretty much the same as above for The Hobbit study guide.

2) I really like how the questions made the student use thinking skills and did not just have yes and no answers. It made the learning experience richer.

3) Opened up dialog that I did not have to lead.

4) This engaged my husband as he loves literature, so it opened up some chatter between father and son.

 

What this homeschool Momma did not like about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

 

1) Again nothing! I had read this book as a child and never did I get this much thought provoking information from that time.

 

I highly recommend the Interactive PDF Study Guides from Progeny Press.

 

Computer Science for Kids Review

 

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review crew we were honored to be picked to review Computer Science For Kids computer programming software. We decided to try out Computer Bible Games for Microsoft Small Basic. It's on sale until July 4th, so it's the perfect time to order now and be able to look through the E-book before your 2014-2015 school year starts in the fall.

Single User License

Digital E-Book Download Only

Item #104-DL $59.95

Sale Price!

$34.95
 

First off let me say that this homeschool Momma, is totally clueless when it comes to computers, I can type and send an email, but that is about it. Even when I was in college we did not have computers, I had an old Brother Typo Graph Typewriter for my college term papers...lol.

When we found our name attached to this review my son was jumping up and down and wanting to call his friends and invite them over to play with his Bible games that he was going to be making.

The software is designed for Middle School students, which I think was right on target for self directed learning, I believe that younger children would do well with parent directed learning while using Computer Science For Kids.

 

Before I give you our thoughts on Computer Bible Games for Microsoft Small Basic, lets first talk about customer service. In this day and age, we hear so much about CUSTOMER NO SERVICE! As Clark Howard would say.  But in the case of Computer Science For Kids, the customer service was outstanding and I really do not think it had anything to do with us being on the TOS Review Crew. Philip Conrod (the author) was AMAZING and did not make me feel like a totally dork when I was clueless about how to get this set up on my computer. I had a major computer issue when I downloaded the software and everything seemed to go crazy on my computer. Philip emailed me a couple of times and then called me on the phone. He spent about 20+ minutes with me, walking me through a few things on my computer to see what the problem was. Well in the end the problem was with my computer, I did not have WinZip downloaded on my computer. So Philip stayed on the phone with me and walked me step by step on how to do that and he chatted easily with me while it was downloading. I think that he must have checked out my blog, because he chatted with me about adoption and how the Lord blessed them through adoption when they had not even considered adoption before. Their daughter brought up the subject and things fell into place and they added a little girl to their family through International adoption. Once WinZip got added to my computer the Computer Science For Kids software worked perfectly! We were blessed to have this really cool computer program to play with and I was blessed as an adoptive mom to hear the story of another adoptive family coming together.

So here is our review...
What the student liked...
1) It was fun!
2) It was easy!
3) I liked how you could do the programs & all the different variations.
4) I love the games!

What the student did not like...
1) Mom would not let me spend more time each day playing with this! lol. Ya know, I had other school work to complete.

What the homeschool Momma liked...
1) Easy to install (once I got the WinZip on board).
2) Simple for our son to understand and use.
3) AWESOME for me as a post-op homeschool Momma who spent her days during this review in a recliner recovering from having my Sigmoid Colon removed, an anastomotic leak and subsequent infection and 13 day hospital stay. This was a wonderful tool to get school moving along, so that my son could 'play' on the computer...hahaha...actually LEARN on the computer with  Computer Bible Games for Microsoft Small Basic but it sure did not feel like learning, it was a fun time that he looked forward to each day.
4) This opened up a whole new world my son, this was all totally new to him.

Here is a sampling of what you get with the Computer Bible Games for Microsoft Small Basic

1. Noah’s Ark
2. Daniel and the Lions’ Den
3. Elijah and the Ravens
4. The Good Shepherd
5. The Prodigal Son
6. The Lost Coin
7. Bible Scramble

"The "learning programs" include a unit conversion program, savings calculator, a sub-sandwich builder, a cardwars game, a number guessing game, a state capitals game, a times table program, a stop watch, a simple drawing program, fun logic games and a fun video game. Finished programs can even be published on-line to share programs with others. " Quoted from the Computer Bible Games for Microsoft Small Basic website.

Yes we would buy this and use it again, and guess what? It's on sale!! What homeschool Momma can pass up a sale on curriculum? Normally $59.99 it's on sale for $34.95. That is a savings of over $25.00!!! Hurry over and order now for the coming school year! A minimum of Windows XP is needed to run this and we used it on our Vista system. It takes about 10 weeks to complete, but if your child understands the material well, they can move through it at a faster pace. This product is for ages 10+.