Product Review~Phonics and Reading with McGuffey

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

Most adults have heard of or seen the famous McGuffey''s Primer, which has taught tens of thousands of children the joy of reading for over more than a century.  LiteracySoft has now brought this most successful textbook of all time to contemporary technology with the Phonics and Reading with McGuffey app.

.This app guides students step by step and at their own pace.  It is flexible enough to be used with adult students, ESL students, Dyslexic learners, and homeschoolers.

This app includes:

• All 52 McGuffey Primer lessons
• All 44 letter sounds of English and their graphemes
• 60+ letter sound animations
• 400+ practice word vocabulary
• 9000+ nonsense word audio dictionary

My youngest son, Chad, has Dyslexia, and  so I am always on the lookout for ways to help him make reading easier.  He's been working through the lessons, and although he already knows how to read, these lessons have been great for him as he struggles with letter sounds and rules.  The lessons are full color and vibrant, and the activities are made to be fun while learning-always a bonus!  Now that he is out of school for the summer, we plan to continue through the Phonics and Reading with McGuffey app. 

Click here to go to LiteracySoft's website and learn more about Phonics and Reading with McGuffey app, as well as their other products. You can even try out a sample of the program on iOS, iPad, Android and PC. 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Wordless Wednesday~Little Reader

Save $10 on The Reading Game~Give the Gift of Early Literacy Campaign

A while back I had the opportunity to review a great reading game called The Reading Game.  We had a great experience with this product, you can read my review here .  Since my review of the game, it has won four awards and there is now and new and improved 2nd edition!

"Give the Gift of Early Literacy" is a campaign in partnership with the charity First Book.  This will help provide donations of the game for children in need.  Of course we want all kids to learn to read!

Here is the information on how to order your game at $10 off or donate as little as a $1:

Get an award winning Learn to Read Game or DONATE  a Learn To Read Game to a Child In Need via First Book through this Indiegogo.com Crowd Funding Campaign. As little as $1 will help a child in need served by First Book. Please Share!http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/give-the-gift-of-early-literacy

You can get a pre-release copy of the game for only $25 (that's $10 off retail) only through this campaign. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/give-the-gift-of-early-literacy If you are a school, you can order a case of 9 games at the wholesale retailer rate of only $111.84!

The campaign runs only until December 4th. To order, choose the "Get a Game" Perk  at the bottom of the right hand side of the page, in the "Select a Perk" column from our campaign page. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/give-the-gift-of-early-literacy

Schoolhouse Crew Review~Scaredy Cat Reading System Express

For the past several weeks, Chad and I have been reviewing Joyce Herzog's product Scaredy Cat Reading System Express.  Joyce Herzog offers many educational and Christian products, as well as educational services. Her Scaredy Cat Reading System is a mastery-based Phonics program that can be used for all students, even those with learning difficulties.

Chad is dyslexic and struggles with reading.  This past year he has improved quite a bit, but is still a few years behind.  I am always happy to try new programs with him, so that he can find what makes sense to him.  Joyce's reading program has three different levels you can purchase, and then the SCRS Express, which we tried, has all three levels condensed for the more advanced learner. This Express level would also be great if you feel your child may have some gaps and needs to brush up on the rules in reading.  I thought with Chad's age, the Express system would be the best choice for him.  Included in SCRS Express is:
*Teacher training section
*Two multi-use boardgames
*All the stories, word lists, and sentence lists
* The story of Lettermaster mini
*Using Lettermaster as a teaching tool
*SCRS Rules Songs CD

SCRS Express is available for $30 at Joyce Herzog's store.  Download a sample of the SCRS Express here.

The teacher training section has suggestions of different ways to teach the material, ideas for games and use of the word lists.  The Story of Lettermaster is a fun way to get kids to learn rules of letters and spelling.  Chad thought it was very entertaining.  There is also a DVD version you can purchase.  Chad's favorite part of the SCRS Express was playing the board games.  We would take turns choosing a word from the word list, and if the other person spelled it correctly they would roll the dice and move forward.  Here he is in the middle of a game:  

Overall, we both liked this program.  It was very flexible.  We spent about 30-45 minutes 3-4 times a week using it.The teacher training section took a few times of reading over before I felt ready to start the program-it has a lot of information in it!  The only part of the program Chad did  not like was the song CD-we just have a small handheld CD player, and the songs sounded muffled and hard to hear. I'm not sure if it was the CD or our player. Chad has definitely mastered words he did not have mastered before, and I see an improvement in his reading.  This summer, we are going to continue with the SCRS Express program.

Be sure to check out Joyce Herzog's website to see all it has to offer!  Click to read more reviews on the products from Joyce Herzog that the TOS Crew reviewed.

Schoolhouse Crew Review~Reading Kingdom

I've mentioned Chad's struggles with reading in the past.  He has Dyslexia, and although he is in 4th grade, he reads at about a beginning 2nd grade level.  I am always on the lookout for good reading helps and programs!  Reading Kingdom has been a great online program for Chad!

Reading Kingdom was created by Dr. Marion Blank, the Director of the Light on Learning Program at Columbia University and one of the world's top experts in reading.  It is for ages 4-10, with the goal to be able to read at a 3rd grade level.

Reading Kingdom is the only program that teaches all six skills needed for reading and writing success:
*sequencing
*motor skills
*phonics (phonemic awareness)
*meaning
*grammar
*reading comprehension
Reading Kingdom makes learning to read fun for kids-bright graphics, incentives, and fun games. Chad loves fun computer games-so Reading Kingdom is perfect for him!  It makes learning fun-he wants to do this program during his own free computer time! 

What I like about Reading Kingdom, besides Chad loving it, is that once the account is set up, the child can do it on their own.  There are still progress reports for the parents, so you always know where your child is in the program.  Also, Reading Kingdom customizes to each student-so no wasting time on things he has mastered already.  I will be thrilled to get Chad to a 3rd grade level by the time he has completed the program-I have already noticed improvement in his reading!

There are many resources at the Reading Kingdom website.  You can access sample lessons,  as well as find learning games, tips, worksheets, and videos.  Reading Kingdom's store is where you can purchase a variety of books, as well as sign up for a  30 day trial.  The regular price of a Reading Kingdom subscription is $19.99/month or $199.99/year, with additional readers costing $9.99/month or $99.99/year.  Your membership is risk-free, you can cancel anytime. 

We are having great success with Reading Kingdom-check it out! 

 

*Disclaimer: I received a free subscription to Reading Kingdom in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Free Kindle Books!

I got a Kindle from my sweet family this past Christmas, and I love it!  I currently have over 300 books on it, and they were all free!  That's right, I have never paid money to download anything to my kindle.  I have a few favorite sites that I get free books from, so I thought I'd share with you. 

New Free Books for Kindle Discovered for you Daily is my favorite-this site is usually updated daily and has a big selection.

Family Fiction has a free Christian fiction page for e-readers, not just Kindle but Nook and more.

Amazon's Best Sellers-top 100 free is updated several times a day.

Of course, you can also check out books from your local library, but usually you can only keep them for a limited time. 

Do you have a favorite free Kindle book site??  I'd love to hear about it!

Product Review~Reading Eggs

If you've read posts on this blog, you most likely are aware that we have really struggled with Chad and reading.  He is 9 years old now, but at a 1st grade reading level.  He didn't learn to read in kindergarten or 1st grade while at public school, and since homeschooling he is reading and progressing, but very slowly.  Which. Drives. Me. Crazy.  When he was little, Nick (now 20) just caught on immediately and read like a pro.  Alyssa (now 17) needed more instruction and practice, but was an eager learner and didn't take long.  So I really haven't had experience with this frustration.  Now, he does have dyslexia, so I know that doesn't help. 

We have been focusing most of our energy on phonics and reading, and he is getting there.  But like I said above, slowly.  I've found a few great programs that I love and are working, but the problem is Chad doesn't like reading or learning to read or any of it.  So it has not been a fun situation for either of us.  Until I had the opportunity to review Reading Eggs the past few months!

Reading Eggs is meant for kids age 4-8, and there is a program for older kids (7-12) called Reading Eggspress.  It is an online world with games, songs, stories, and more where you learn to read!  There are currently 100 lessons-Chad took a test and was placed where he needed to start, on lesson 67.  I liked that he didn't have to sit and do lessons he didn't need.  He does several activities and games for each lesson, and is rewarded with golden eggs!!  These eggs hatch into avatars for your child to decorate and dress.

Just above is a screenshot of a learning activity.  I asked Chad what he likes about Learning Eggs, and he said 'Everything'!  His favorite activities are dressing up and buying things for his avatar, going to the toy store, earning eggs,  and the rhyming games. I asked him what he dislikes and he replied 'Nothing!  I love Reading Eggs!'  Is that awesome or what???  Whats nice is that he can do Reading Eggs all by himself, without me helping him.  He even woke up early one morning and asked if he could 'play' Reading Eggs while I was making breakfast!!

There is so much for kids to explore at Reading Eggs-Chad has been using it for two months now and is still discovering new things to do!  I have definitely noticed an improvement in his reading ability. The parents dashboard is a great tool to show you where your child is at in the program, and what they have been learning with each lesson. Click here to try a sample lesson. Click here for FAQs about the program.

Reading Eggs is affordable-online subscriptions are $9.95 per month, $49.95 for six months, or $75 for one year! Click here to purchase a subscription. There are also sibling discounts. Along with the online program, you can also purchase book packs, activity books, and flashcards.  The online subscription comes with free worksheets to print out too! You can get a 14 day trial subscription to try it out yourself.  I definitely recommend Reading Eggs if you have a beginning or struggling early reader.  We plan to purchase a subscription when our trial runs out!

Click here to read more TOS crewmember's reviews of Reading Eggs.

Disclaimer: I received a temporary membership to Reading Eggs in exchange for my honest review.

Meeting Author Cindy Woodsmall!

Last Saturday I went to a book signing by author Cindy Woodsmall, who was promoting her latest book, Plain Wisdom.  You can read more about Cindy and the book in my most recent blog post.  I must say I have never been to a book signing but figured it would be a quick greeting and generic signing of my book.  It was just the opposite!  We chatted about the book and homeschooling (she homeschooled her boys), among other things.  We took this picture together, and I must say it was really a delight to meet her!  She is a very sweet, genuine woman, and now we are even Facebook friends!  I wonder if meeting her will make her books seem even more enjoyable than before?  I have a feeling it will, having that personal connection now.  Thank you Cindy for coming to Utah!!

                                                                                                      

Happy New Year!

January 3, 2011-My first post of the New Year.  I'm hoping to post more this year, I'm thinking shorter but more often.  This past year I've linked up with several encouraging homeschooling Moms who blog, and they have been an inspiration. 

Our holidays were nice and quiet-ahhhh.  We of course would have loved to spend them with our families in California or Minnesota, but it didn't work out this year again.  Times are tough and it is expensive for a family of five to travel!  So, it was just the five of us.  Nick came home from school in mid-December for a 2 1/2 week break!  He just went back to Clearfield last night.  It is looking like he may finish up his certification within the next month or so, then hopefully a job and an apartment will be next for him. 

So, today was back to the regular routine of homeschooling and activities.  I didn't make any resolutions this year, just loose ideas of what I'd like to do better.  With chronic illness, I think I beat myself up enough throughout the year when I can't do what I planned to, so why make it worse on myself with resolutions?  Some things I"d like to improve this year are:

Food/menus/meals: I already started this last year, and I've done pretty well.  I'm trying to make home cooked dinner from scratch most nights.  We stopped eating fast food (except for the occasional big treat) a few years ago, and aside from frozen pizza and leftover nights, I'm trying to not use any prepackaged, processed foods for our dinners.  I'd love to make out menus far in advance, but I buy each week based on what is on sale, so it doesn't work out well to plan too far ahead. 

Budgeting/couponing: I'd like to get a tighter reign on our budget, and keep better track of my savings using sales, rebates, and coupons. I don't want to have to use Credit cards at all (had a few emergencies last year that we had to), and work on using Dave Ramsey's plan to pay down debt and increase savings.  I'd also like to completely pay for Christmas gifts with earnings of gift cards, etc. from rebates, surveys, points earned in various programs.  This past year, I earned about $200, which was just a little short of my goal of covering everything. 

Exercise:  This is a very vague one.  I'm really not supposed to exercise in any way, except pool therapy, which is too expensive. The fear is all the hardware in my neck and upper back and base of skull-there is just way more than there should be, and the neurosurgeon worries something will break.  But, I can handle very short walks or pedaling a stationary bike for short bursts.  So, I'm going to try to do that more often.  My semi-regular diet of steroids puts on about 5 lbs. each round, and in the past few years I've gained about 25 lbs. from my normal weight.  That may be a losing battle, but who knows? 

Reading/Bible: I want to continue reading more and watching TV less.  I'll continue reading one fiction book at the same time as at least one non-fiction book (mostly bible studies).  I also want to spend more time in the bible this year, and I think I'm off to a good start!  I'm participating in The Bible in 90 Days!

Today was the first day.  I'm on a team of several other women and one man, many of us are homeschooling moms. Many have blogs. Some are living in other countries-China and Africa are where two participants live. We have a mentor, who is encouraging us and I'm enjoying getting to know her as well. We check in with each other and are getting to know each other along the way. It is a lot of reading to get this done in 90 days, so obviously not much 'studying'.  What I'm looking to get out of this, aside from reading through the bible completely, is to make a better habit for myself by spending a large chunk of time daily in the bible.  I'm really excited about this!

That's all I can think of at this time, not that there isn't a lot more rolling around in this head of mine!  This year should be an exciting one in our family, with lots of changes, especially for our oldest two, Nick and Alyssa, as they navigate these older teen/young adult years!

                                                               

Reading Habits?

So, this may be a strange question.  I'm wondering who else, besides me, has 'rules' for their reading.  I've always been a big reader, and much prefer reading over TV.  Don't get me wrong, there are several shows I record on DVR to watch.  I also enjoy the occasional movie.  But I LOVE reading.  I honestly don't think I'd enjoy one of the new E-readers or anything similar.  I need to have the physical book in my hands.  I get most, almost all, of my books free.  The library is visited at least a few times a week for both Chad and I to restock.  I get hand-me-downs, books from Booksneeze, and occasionally buy from used sales.

Anyway, back to my 'rules'.  I've always read at least a few, up to several, books at once.  If I were to only read a fictional book I'd feel guilty, like I'm wasting time, and if I only were to read an educational or non-fiction book I'd feel bored.  So, I've used a few different systems over the years. I do all of my Bible and Bible study reading during the day, and my fiction and non-fiction reading at night, at bedtime. The only problem with this is that there tend to be many nights when I only hold my book, never opened, and fall asleep.  Or I fall asleep after only a few paragraphs.  For many years I would alternate nights-fictional 'fluff' one night, educational/non-fiction the next.  Lately, I've tried something different: I read a chapter from the non-fiction, then read until I fall asleep from fiction.  This is working well for me. 

What do I read?  For fiction, it's nearly always either Amish fiction or fiction about polygamy.  Occasionally I will get sucked into a popular series, such as the 'Hunger Games' series recently. Yes, I know I have strange tastes!  For non-fiction/educational it is usually a homeschooling or parenting book, with the occasional book related to chronic illness or a current issue that has caught my interest.  Aside from my nighttime reading, I read from the Bible during the day while we are doing our homeschooling, and I have two studies I go to during the week that I read for, one is a women's group and the other a small group Jeff and I go to.  So, I have lots of books going at one time, but it seems to work for me.  I also have a very long list of books I want to read-I don't know if I will ever catch up!!

Here is my current reading list:
Fiction: 'Autumn's Promise' by Shelley Shepard Gray
Non-fiction: 'And the Bride Wore White'  by Dannah Gresh (this is a dating book, as I'm preparing for the big 16th birthday in January!!
Bible Studies: 'Romans'  by John Stott and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney for my Women's group
A Praying Life by Paul Miller for my small group study

Then there are all the kids books we read during our day! As Chad is a beginning reader, we are doing a lot of reading together!

So, that's it-I'm really interested if anyone will respond with their reading habits, or if I'm the only one like this!