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+.

   

We got to meet the Duggar family!

We had the opportunity to meet the Duggar family from TLC's show 19 Kids & Counting. It was pretty cool! Michelle & Jim Bob spoke and the children play music and sang for us. It was such a blessing. This family is exactly the same as they are on TV. Michelle was so sweet to talk with. Our son had a fun time meeting his favorite Duggar, Josiah. They looked very similar at younger ages.
We were very blessed with this experience and I came away refreshed as a Christian, wife and mother of an only child.

There were only 2 Duggars missing, Josh and John David (the one with the tow truck business?).

 

Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar, our son & I.

More Duggar children signing our book.

 

Our son with his favorite Duggar, Josiah.

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Yeah!!

I am so excited ooh-la-la Sasson. I am so excited to be able to say that I can fit in to my jeans again! YIPPE!! My stomach was so swelled up after my surgery/leak/infection that I could not wear anything but sweat pants, my wonderful sister-in-law went to the store to buy me some since my own sweats would not fit.

So a mere 72 days after surgery I am back in my old jeans, well 1 pair, the other ones still don't fit. But hey, I will take these out on the town! Still exhausted, but moving along. Again the surgeon said that this was to be expected and I would not be up and running for some time to come.

 Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

A Journey Through Learning Review

We have been given the opportunity to review A Journey Through Learning lapbooks. A Journey Through Learning is a company that was founded by two homeschooling moms Paula & Nancy, how cool is that? 2 ladies who know exactly what we do on a daily basis with our children!! Who better to create a curriculum for us.

Our son is 7th grade but still enjoys doing some of the lower grade fun stuff. This is our first experience with lapbooks, I had seen them online over the years, but I was so focused on book work in the first few years that I overlooked lapbooking, "You can't learn from arts and crafts" I thought! Well our 7th grader took to lapbooking like a fish to water!

Stack of library books that became a part of the leraning process.

Click on the link Knights, Castles and Middle Ages lapbook, the lapbooks are available in the following formats:
Instant Download- $13.00
CD- $14.00
Printed- $21.00
We were asked to pick one of the following lapbooks.
Letters, Numbers and Shapes (ages 3-5)
The Earth (grades 1-4)
Knights and Castles (grades 2-7)
Astronomy and Space (grades 2-7)

Section 1, with drawings and cut outs.

We were given the instant download version to review. That worked really well for us even with very slow and basic DSL Internet service. I printed out the lapbook for the Knights and Castles; my son just went to town on it! He got some library books to read up more on the subject. He has been cutting and pasting like crazy. He watched the how to videos from A Journey Through Learning and picked right up on how to make the lapbook without my assistance.

Middle section of the lapbook.

We had all the supplies on hand already for the lapbook. If you have younger children you will need to work with them on this, I would say most 3rd graders could read the materials on their own, 5th grade on up could do the lapbook on their own with you checking up on them. I highly recommend watching the how to videos that I mentioned above, they were very helpful and explained things in very easy to understand terms.

Last section of the lapbook.

For the review our son picked Knights and Castles Lapbook with Study Guide which covered the Middle Ages. We liked the fact that the materials were from a Christian perspective.

What our son liked about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) It covered the Fall of Rome, Middle Ages, this was all new to me.
2) Love learning about the castles, I learned that they are not very fun to live in.
3) Knights and armor
4) Loved doing crafts that counted as school work.
5) Liked how there were places to draw pictures.
6) This was so much fun!

What our son did not like about the lapbook:

1) NOTHING

What this Homeschool Mamma liked about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) This was so much fun!
2) Easy for "On your own work."
3) Easy instructions.
4) Not too many supplies needed.
5) Did I say "FUN?"
6) BONUS!!! No outside materials needed for research, if you wanted to go more in depth there are book suggestions included. Otherwise you can just use what A Journey Through Learning provides for you.

What this Homeschool Mamma did not like about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) NOTHING! It was totally awesome and even hubby thought it was a cool way to learn.

I am finding that lapbooking is great for those homeschooling days, weeks or months when a homeschooling mom has health issues. I've gone through a Sigmoid Colon removal surgery, had an anastomotic leak, and then an infection from the leak, which has made for an interesting end of the school year to say the least! lol. A Journy Through Learning lapbooks would be a great learning tool for those times that homeschooling is difficult on mom. My son worked on handwriting, cutting, reading, spelling, and history, all while I rested quietly as I recovered.

Come see what others reviewers have to say about A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks.
For those of you that have NEVER done lapbooking, it's so cool and I think we are hooked on it. Looking back now, I wish that we had done lapbooks from the very beginning, but ya know, you can't go back. So we are going forward and he is looking at what else he can lapbook. So all is not lost, but you know how our mommy homeschool brains work, it was sort of a sad moment thinking about how those fun little homeschool learning moments are fleeting. Enjoy your children and relax with the textbooks for awhile and try a lapbook out.