Reading Eggs Review

This site contains affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using these links.

Sometimes we feel like we need a change of pace. When we were offered a six month subscription to Reading Eggs, I thought that sounded like a fun change for my two youngest daughters. Looking over the Reading Eggs website, I realized that it can be used for more than beginning reading skills!

You're Saying It Wrong - Book Review

We love books, and we love words. When you put those two together you get some people who are excited to review books like You're Saying It Wrong by Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras.

As soon as the package arrive, my son begged to open it. He shouted "Hooray!' when he saw what it was. I didn't see the book again for a few days, but I did get many reports on a lot of the words included!

A Review of K5 Learning

Sometimes kids need something new and fun to do for school, whether that's because of summer break, falling behind, or needing to supplement. K5 Learning came at a perfect time for us, my 3rd grader got to use their online program because she had finished her math book a month before school was out for summer!

How We Homeschool: Reading (Blogging Thorugh the Alphabet)

Reading! This is a fun topic and I'm going to talk about it in a couple of ways.

The first is how much we love to read! My kids usually have two or three books on their nightstand and spend about an hour each night reading before they go to sleep. Except the youngest, her bedtime doesn't allow that much yet. We have three tall bookshelves in our school room, half our computer desk is the equivalent of a fourth, two short bookshelves in the kids rooms, and parts of our closets are filled with books. The kids ask me why I don't buy another bookshelf, and I ask them where on earth would we put it in this tiny house?! I wish we had a room we could call the library. My three oldest bought their own Kindle e-readers, and if they don't have a book in their hands, they have their Kindle. We love the library, and borrow Kindle books from it as well as print books.

The Secret Bridge, A Book Review

It's hard to catch someone without a book in their hand around here. My daughter and I had the opportunity to review The Secret Bridge from Lamplighter Publishing recently. What a great book! Lamplighter Publishing says they aim to develop "Christlike character one story at a time." I understand what they mean after reading this book.

How We Homeschool: Literature (Blogging Through the Alphabet)

I don't remember studying literature until Jr. High school. I don't know when most schools start now, but I like doing literature studies with all ages!

Our main literature curriculum is part of The Family School (affiliate link). The curriculum is geared toward grades K-8. They also have high school literature studies available. We study books together as a family, and have a literature lesson every Tuesday. Sometimes the kids do their reading assignments on their own, but each week we read them aloud together for anyone who wants to participate, and to make sure the youngest hears the story too.

A Review of "Bessie's Pillow, A Young Immigrant's Journey"

Can you imagine being 18 years old and immigrating to a new country, alone? That's exactly what happened to Bessie Markman in the book Bessie's Pillow. Her granddaughter, Linda Silbert, is the author and owner (with her husband) of Strong Learning, Inc., a tutoring and publishing company in New York. Dr. Linda wrote this book after listening to recorded interviews between Bessie and her daughter Ann Bress (Linda's mother). She was generous enough to send us and other Homeschool Review Crew members a copy of her book to read and review.

Circle C Stepping Stones Books: A Review

My daughter was excited to review two chapter books that are right at her reading level, and have stories about horses! These books are the latest written by Susan K. Marlow, from Kregel Publications.

We received Andi Saddles Up and Andi Under the Big Top. These paperback books are just right for ages 7-10. They are the first two books in the Circle C Stepping Stones series, which is part of a larger series of leveled stories. You can follow Andi as she grows up if you start at the beginning. What a great way to encourage children to read.

  

"I'd Rather Be Your Mommy" Book Review

My youngest child can't wait to grow up and be a mother. I love seeing her enthusiasm, so I was excited to review with her the book I'd Rather Be Your Mommy from Home School Adventure Co.

Celebrate National Reading Month with the National Geographic Kids Super Readers Program

We were asked to review National Geographic Leveled Readers recently. March is National Reading Month, and National Geographic Kids wanted to celebrate by promoting the benefits of reading! Did you know March 2nd was Read Across America Day?

By the Way Book Series: A Review of "Smoky Mountains ~ Here We Come! "

We have been reviewing a new book, Smoky Mountains ~ Here We Come! It is the second book in a growing series from By the Way Book Series.

We tried to decide between the book we received and Florida's Treasure Coast ~ Here We Come!, but chose the Smoky Mountains book because the wildlife in it is similar to the wildlife in our area. Plus, my husband has visited the Smoky Mountains so it gave him something fun to chat about with the kids. There are currently 6 books in the By the Way Book Series, with more being written.

Week 50: 52 Weeks of Photos

Please excuse the terrible picture, but when someone finishes their reading level early Saturday morning (she wanted to read the last story to Daddy), you pass things off right then! She was so excited to finish All About Reading Level 1 and start Level 2!

Can Do Cubes Review - A kinesthetic addition to phonics!

My youngest recently started learning to read so we were excited to review the Can Do Cubes from jollyliteracy.com and their parent company, just2ducks LLC. Manipulatives help new concepts stick, and as soon as I looked over the jollyliteracy.com website my mind started running wild with ideas of how to use them!

The Can Do Cubes set and supplemental materials

Forbrain Review: For Speech, Language, Attention, and more!

I cannot express how excited I was at the opportunity to review Forbrain.  This device, which was sent to us by Forbrain - Sound For Life Ltd, uses bone conduction to assist in auditory processing.  The list of things it helps with is just amazing.  Read on!

A Review of The Glass Castle

My kids spend A LOT of time reading so we were happy to be were offered an opportunity to review The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins from Shiloh Run Press.

Memoria Press Third Grade Literature Guide Set: A Review

What do you do when your child has finished their homeschool reading curriculum, but you feel like reading instruction is not complete?  I know what I did, I jumped at the chance to review the Third Grade Literature Guide Set from Memoria Press!  My daughter had set a goal to finish the final level of her reading curriculum before she turned 8.  She did it, but wanted to do more, and I wanted to ensure comprehension and basic literature study skills.  This set came at a perfect time for us!

My Favorite Books from 2015

I enjoy getting caught up in a good book, though it's not often that I can do that!  I've put together a list of my favorite books that I read in 2015 and a few that are sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

Best Books of 2015

Every year I read the Book of Mormon.  Doing this provides blessings, daily insight and inspiration, as well as a deeper relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  It is one of the things I need to feed my spirit each day.  You can get your own free copy through the link above or in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

Training the Best Dog Ever - We got a new puppy at the end of 2014.  I had a lot of experience training dogs in my life before kids, but that was 11 1/2 years ago.  This book was a great refresher for me and was easy enough for my older kids to read and use.

Good Pictures, Bad Pictures - I love, love, love this book.  Knowing the dangers of pornography, I am always talking with my children about how to avoid it, what to do when they encounter it, what it does to their brain, etc.  This book is a great place to start or continue the discussion.  It's written in a way that is easy for young children to understand, but is also engaging with older children.  Check out this video that goes right along with it!

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman - We love to listen to or read John Lund's talks, and that might be where I heard Gottman's name though I can't remember for sure.  This book was amazing for me, I finally felt like I had mental tools to solve problems.  It also helped me see where I was causing problems, and how to help me listen as well as talk to be heard.

Between Parent and Child by Haim Ginott - I was at a homeschool conference a couple years ago and heard Wallace Goddard speak.  He recommended this book.  It is well worth reading.  The back section got a little off track of what I expected and I felt it was unnecessary, but the first two thirds or so of the book are great.  Along that same thought, The Soft Spoken Parent is another book that I enjoyed.  It is a quick read yet something that can be referred back to frequently.

Of course I must include Trim Healthy Mama.  It's been a life changer for me!  Click THM in the labels on the right to read my other posts about it.

I began the Uncle Eric Books series.  I had heard how great Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? is and after researching it myself I decided to buy the entire series.  I do not engage in politics and economics beyond the very basics, they bore me and make me sleepy.  But Richard Maybury has turned both topics into easy to understand sets of letters.  I appreciate how clearly the topics are explained, as both politics and economics are topics I wish I knew more about lately.  These books have prevented my eyes glazing over as I have attempted to dive deeper into government issues.  The books can be used as high school courses as well.

What's on my shelf for 2016?

I will finish the Uncle Eric Books series.  I have 5 more to read.

Drawing Heaven into your Marriage  - I hope his marriage books are as great as his parenting books!

Increase in Learning
Act in Doctrine
Power to Become - all by David A. Bednar.  These books were a Christmas gift, something I've been wanting for a while.  Every time I read or listen to Elder Bednar speak I am filled with inspiration and understanding.  I am sure these books will provide a lot more of that as I work towards improving myself, becoming closer to Jesus Christ, and learning better ways to learn.
Tip - the first one, Increase in Learning, is available free on the Bookshelf app.  The books come with DVDs and notes for where a video segment should be, in the Bookshelf app the videos are right on the pages!