Allsaid & Dunn, LLC The Magic Stories Review

My family had the privilege of trying The Magic Stories from Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

The Magic Stories are 6 downloadable PDFs that each have a thought-provoking story with good morals and character built into the plots. These are about 20 pages long, are typed in a larger font that is easily read, and should be read in sequential order. These stories have black and white drawings and sketches that can be colored by the child as well.

Each story comes with a set of "Naughty 40" word flash cards and four worksheets. The "Naughty 40" are words that kids have difficulty reading. They can be printed and cut out for use. The exercises in the worksheets include: maze, finish the sentence, imagine, and finish the story.

There are optional worksheets on the website for free to download available under the “Free Resources” section of their website. The Instructions for The Magic Stories will tell you what to do with this set to optimally teach your child with it. The Pre & Post Sight Word Assessment Worksheets help determine whether your child is familiar with the "Naughty 40" words from each story. This tests vocabulary acquisition growth. You check mark if your child recognizes the word, can read in a sentence & understands the meaning of the word. This is done before reading the story and after. If your child needs more help you can use the flash cards to work on these more. There are also Running Record Evaluation Worksheets for each book that is a 100 word section of each story to test your child's reading fluency.

This set develops comprehension, writing skills, creative writing, perception, reasoning, and memory recall. This supplemental reading program is recommended for 2nd/3rd grade reading level. These can be used as a follow up to The Reading Game, but the game is not a prerequisite. These are optimized for iPad or computer screen and can easily be printed on standard 8.5" x 11" paper or cards.

Titles of The Magic Stories:

1. The Magic Hole
2. The Magic Ax
3. The Magic Joke
4. The Magic Hotdog
5. The Magic Boots
6. The Magic Box

Teela doing the worksheets for The Magic Stories.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
My daughter Teela is in 4th grade and my daughter Zari is in 1st grade this year. I knew that my daughter Teela would be too advanced in her reading to really benefit from this completely, but I also thought she might enjoy reading the stories and possibly doing the activities. Zari is not reading too much yet as she is just beginning reading, so I had Teela read the stories out loud to her so that she could enjoy them as well. These stories are well written and have a great moral ending to each one. For example: The Magic Ax is about a boy that learns the value of hard work and The Magic Joke shares with us that it is better to end a war than win a war. These could be printed, but we decided to just have Teela read them from the computer. We very much enjoyed reading these stories. My favorite was The Magic Ax, Teela's favorite was The Magic Hotdog, and Zari's was The Magic Boots.

The "Naughty 40" word flash cards have the word and a sentence with the word in it on them. These are words a typical 2nd - 3rd grader might have trouble reading because of how they are spelled or because they don't follow the rules. Each story has a set of 40 of these words and these are listed at the end of each story. The flash cards are in their own PDFs for printing out easily. We used these decks very little at this point because Teela was already well versed with reading these words and Zari still had trouble reading most the words in the stories by herself. We will probably utilize these at a later point when Zari is in 2nd or 3rd grade and feels more independent at reading more words.

The worksheets were also in their own PDFs. These we printed out and had Teela do each one after she read each story. She liked doing these and thought the activities were fun. I liked that they made her recall the story and tested her comprehension of it.

I would recommend these to those who like fun stories and are 2nd - 3rd grade reading level...although I enjoyed them as well. I believe that those grades would benefit most from the complete package. These are a great supplemental reading program for homeschool setting.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReadingGame/ 
• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TheReadingGame2   
• Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/TheReadingGame/   
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVfPcsCZ7zyM7kjiD5Qjn5g
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #goodmorals #character #childrenstories

BUY IT
Purchase The Magic Stories set for $16.95 or the stories individually for $3.95. My readers a 25% discount should they choose to order The Magic Stories.  To receive the discount, enter “raisingreaders” in the coupon box upon checkout.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Allsaid & Dunn, LLC The Magic Stories...

SmitCo LLC: #Affordable #Christmas #Gifts For #Toddlers, #Little Girls And #Tweens Ages 2 To 12

US Family Guide provided me with this promotional offer information to share with my readers. This is a sponsored post. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Quality, affordable gifts for girls ages 2 to 12. SmitCo LLC has several different locked diary sets for girls in Emoji, Diva and Mermaid themes, as well as scrapbook, nail and play dress up sets and party favors that can be used as stocking stuffers to provide hours of fun.

SmitCo products also include rose gold, gold or rhodium plated jewelry and sets, as well as very popular stretch sets for little girls - all packed in cute gift boxes.

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Because I am posting about the SmitCo LLC Offer I am getting a free product to review later. Thanks to USFamilyGuide.com for providing me this promotion information and free product. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for posting this promo. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Abby Ludvigson Sex by Design Review

My family had the privilege of trying Sex by Design from Abby Ludvigson for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Abby Ludvigson is a inspirational and motivational speaker, author, and urban missionary that speaks about abstinence-until-marriage. Her mission is to reach youth ages 12 to 18 specifically with this message of purity. At age 12 she took a pledge to stay sexually pure until her wedding night. Abby went on to be a elementary educator in the public school system and saw how children were being inundated with bad peer pressure. Abby joined forces with The Navigators, an urban mission group, and created a curriculum to help parents educate their tweens and teens to stay pure. Abby is dedicated to helping young people in this day and age of increasingly sexualized culture to understand and honor God's design for sex.

Abby Ludvigson speaking in the film series of Sex by Design.

Sex by Design is a curriculum for parents of youth and youth to do together. This curriculum is for both girls and boys. This course is not a "sex education course", but a course that helps tweens and teens to assemble a Biblical worldview on God's design for sex and then apply it to their personal lives. This course consists of seven videos, a tween/teen workbook, and a parent manual.

Topics addressed in this curriculum are below:

1. Plan Ahead: Living Pure in a Sex-Saturated Culture (video is 23 minutes)
2. Counting the Cost: Every Decision Has a Price Tag (video is 23 minutes)
3. Dating: Doing Relationships God’s Way (video is 19 minutes)
4. Sex: God’s Purpose & Plan (video is 17 minutes)
5. Modesty: God Cares What I Wear (video is 19 minutes)
6. Pornography: It’s Deception & Steps to Get Out or Stay Out (video is 29 minutes)
7. Secondary Virginity: Running Back to God (video is 18 minutes)

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
We were given Abby's Parent Introduction Video, Josh McDowell's Product Endorsement Video, and the 7 segment film series by topic as links either to stream online or download. We also received a physical copy of the parent guidebook and a teen workbook/guidebook in the mail. I downloaded all the videos so that we could watch them offline if we wanted because my internet is slow. I previewed the videos and lessons before my teens watched/did them and then we watched/did them together. We had a fairly in depth study and discussion after watching the videos.

My son Delbin who is 17 and my son Jaedan who is 15 were very receptive of the content so far and Abby does make it a lot easier for the teens to open up in discussion with me. I am glad to have had the opportunity to do the first and second segment with them so far. It has been very interesting to find out the experiences my sons have had with this type of peer pressure and talk to them about these delicate topics.

This message of purity is not new to me or to my family. I have been taught the same values since I was very small and now have incorporated these teachings to my children. My church, The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints, has very similar teachings as Abby Ludvigson. At age 8 we are given a symbolic ring that we can wear with "CTR" on it, meaning Choose The Right, so that we can remember to do so. We also have a pamphlet that the youth are given from the church called "For the Strength of Youth" that summarizes standards rooted in both scripture and the writings and teachings of our church leaders. This pamphlet talks about dating, modesty, entertainment and media, family, friends, language, music and dancing, sexual purity, etc. There is a card version as well so we could keep it in a purse or wallet as a reminder. For the Strength of Youth is free online for everyone to read and the principles are applicable to all age groups and non-church-members alike. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful church that provides these teachings.

Most tweens and teens aren't taught these biblical teachings and even if they have been taught these values tweens and teens in this society are constantly bombarded with media and pressure that say it's alright to have sex before marriage, wear revealing clothing, do drugs and alcohol, etc. I am very thankful I was brought up with the teachings of my church and parents which say otherwise. I am also very thankful that I saved myself for my husband and soul mate after I was married to him. These same values and morals have been down to my children. I feel that these biblical teachings are very important to have and keep as youth. These topics might be uncomfortable to talk about, but tweens and teens need to hear them from their parents or their caregivers so they know what to do and how to handle themselves if the pressure arises.

If you do not have a church that provides a program like this or want something a bit more hands-on then I would recommend Sex by Design developed by Abby Ludvigson. I very much like Abby's down to earth approach. Her ministry is really valuable in this day and age. Abby's curriculum is well thought out and created. She delves into a lot of topics that might be uncomfortable for parents to talk about with their child, but makes it a lot easier because she supports you, the parent, through the process talking about these things to your tween or teen. Abby is also a real role model for your child and has put together this content for you so you don't have to search it out yourself.

Some of the online resources from Topic 1.

Along with her powerful videos of her speaking we were given a Parent Edition and Teen Edition of books to help solidify what was taught. Instead of just reading a pamphlet, we are given the opportunity to watch the Sex by Design film series, participate in discussions, and the teen can fill out the workbook. There are also other resources Abby references in the books to help along the way. For example: in the first segment Abby mentions a purity pledge she made when she was 12...she has made a certificate for the tweens and teens to fill out on her website and she also suggests for them to start a journal to their future spouse...she has a PDF file of journal entry ideas for this on her website.

Parent Edition
Introduction: Getting the Most from this Series (including a helicopter view of the content)

How the Teaching Segments are laid out

• A Note from Abby
• Film Script
• Film Outline (numbered key points, scripture verses, truth statements)
• Follow up (discuss it, personalize it, apply it)
• Key Topics From Segment

Appendix: Bible Study, The 1st Peter Principle, Endnotes

Teen Edition
How the Teaching Segments are laid out

• A Note from Abby
• Film Outline (numbered key points, scripture verses, truth statements)
• Follow up (discuss it, personalize it, apply it)
• Key Topics From Segment

Appendix: Bible Study, The 1st Peter Principle

I like that this series is very interactive. The hands-on activities and other resources make it a very balanced approach for teaching tweens and teens purity. I like that this curriculum brings together many learning styles. It is great for all types of learners. I highly recommend it.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sex-by-Design-188984727830789/
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #purity #growingup #rightchoices #morality #chastity

BUY IT
Film Series Set of Sex by Design (CD and both books) is $55. Extra Parent Guidebooks are $16 and extra Teen Guidebooks are $14.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Abby Ludvigson Sex by Design...

I'm Not a Scaredy Cat: A Prayer for When You Wish You Were Brave Book Review and Giveaway

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

I'm Not a Scaredy Cat: A Prayer for When You Wish You Were Brave is written by number one New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado. It is a adorable and funny picture book for kids that has a great message. The message it has is that God is near so there’s no need to fear. With its rhyming text and sweet illustrations this book will help kids learn that prayers help them with those things that frighten or worry them. This book is recommended for 6-10 year old kids.

Zari reading the I'm Not a Scaredy Cat: A Prayer for When You Wish You Were Brave Book.

What We Thought:
We received the 32 page hardbound version of this book, but it also comes in board book and Kindle as well. We loved this book about a cat who is afraid of some absurd things like a rubber duck, a marching band, a leaf falling from a tree, sprinkles on a donut, etc. This book made my daughters laugh and they liked the rhyming text. The illustrations by Shirley Ng-Benitez are whimsical and cute. The thing that helps the cat with his fears is a prayer he says after he gets afraid. The cat's prayer is a children's version of Philippians 4:6-9: "God, you are good. God, you are near. God, you are here! And, God, you love me." It is repeated throughout the book so that the child will learn it. I like the important message it has.

BUY IT
Purchase I'm Not a Scaredy Cat: A Prayer for When You Wish You Were Brave for $12.47 on Amazon at the time of this posting. You can also get a free art print with purchase from Tommy Nelson when you sign up here.



WIN IT
Prize: I'm Not a Scaredy Cat Book
Host: Thomas Nelson Publishing and FrontGate Media.
Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.
Selection Process: 5 winners will be selected on 11/01/2017 and notified by email.
Where to Enter: Go to this link http://www.blessedfreebies.com/im-not-a-scaredy-cat.html and fill out the form to enter.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

The Pencil Grip, Inc. Ultra Safe Safety Scissors and 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit Review

Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog. My family had the privilege of trying The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors and The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit from The Pencil Grip, Inc. for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

In 1992 The Pencil Grip was invented by an educational therapist by the name of Dr. Lois Provda. The Pencil Grip, Inc. bloomed from there and now has hundreds of ingenious products for home, school, and office. There are so many neat products to choose from and a lot of kids school supplies.

The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors are scissors made primarily for ages 3 and up. These safety scissors have a permanent plastic shield to safely keep fingers away from the blades. These do not have blunt, dull blades like most children's scissors. To cut with them you slide the paper into the thin gap and cut the paper like normal. The sharp blades are enclosed providing optimum protection from kids being able to cut themselves. The scissors are ergonomic and easy to hold by little hands. These safety scissors for kids have a flexible, spring-loaded training lever that automatically opens the blades after being squeezed closed so that a less experienced user or one with limited strength or coordination can use these with ease. The lever can be folded in to give the child more control.

The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit comes with three pencil grips. These help the child to learn how to properly hold the writing implement in three consecutive steps: The Crossover Grip, The Pinch Grip, and The Pencil Grip. The first grip is The Crossover Grip. This grip has two finger guards on either side in the design of a "super hero cape" to place fingers in the correct position on the grip while holding the pencil. These finger guards stop the fingers from crossing over. This grip is best to be used with adult supervision for proper training. The Pinch Grip is used next after The Crossover Grip is mastered. It is used as a transition piece with writing implements to provide a gentle guide. It has special partial "wings" allow more freedom, but still has structure. Finally, the graduation grip, The Pencil Grip, has the famed tripod grasp for preventing bad habits from forming during pre-writing and writing instruction. All grips are made for both lefties and righties. These are latex and phthalate free.



How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

Zari using The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors.

 The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors are great for preschool age children or those that don't know how to operate scissors well. Since my children are older and know how to use regular scissors they really didn't care for these much. You really have to feed the paper through while cutting at a weird angle. I would suggest them only for very young children or these might be great for children with disabilities. These would be great preschool, daycare, and/or childcare training scissors!

Teela using the different grips in The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit.

The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit came to us on promotional pens with The Pencil Grip, Inc. printed on them. My 9 year old daughter, Teela has had an awful pencil holding position from day one and I have tried to get her to stop holding the pencil with a fist when she writes. This 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit looks like it will definitely do the trick and hopefully get her in the habit of holding the pencil correctly. We had Teela pose in the picture above with each grip, she had more trouble positioning the last grip herself. This proved she was not ready for The Pencil Grip. We will work with her more with the first and second grips before moving onto this last one.

Teela holding the pencil correctly with The Pencil Grip.

I like that you can also use this for a number of other writing, drawing, and painting implements as shown in the picture above. These feel pliable like silicone and are comfortable in the hand and on the fingers. These are great for people who need to have more reinforcement for proper writing position and also work well for those that have arthritis.

Follow Them on Social Media:
Website -  http://www.thepencilgrip.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thepencilgrip
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/thepencilgrip
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ThePencilGrip @ThePencilGrip
Suggested Hashtags: #hsreviews #pencilgrip #safetyscissors #preschoolsupplies #homeschoolsupplies

BUY IT
You can purchase the Ultra Safe Safety Scissors for $4 and the 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit for $8.81 on Amazon.



Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for The Pencil Grip, Inc....

Reading Eggs Online Learning Games Review

My family had the privilege of trying the online learning games from Reading Eggs for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Reading Eggs is an online program that helps kids learn better literacy through reading lessons, activities, and ebooks. Reading Eggs is made up of  5 different kids learning programs: Reading Eggs JR for ages 2-4, Reading Eggs for ages 4-5, Reading Eggs for ages 6-7, Reading Eggspress for ages 7-13, and Mathseeds for ages 3-9. These self-paced educational games are recommended for kids ages 2 to 13. They are created by a team of qualified teachers, educational writers, animators and web developers. These online reading programs will engage your child or student to keep learning.

Student Menu

Reading Eggs JR is a brand new online reading game that teaches toddlers ages 2 to 4 words, sounds, and letters. These pre-reading skills are the first step to literacy. This has games, videos, and e-books to help motivate the younger child.

Reading Eggs is an online reading game that teaches kids ages 3 to 7. There are two parts: the lessons for ages 3 to 5 and the lessons for ages 6 to 7. The first teaches phonics, sight words, and essential reading skills needed to get ready for school. The second part gives the child practice with bonus activities and lessons that teach spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

Reading Eggspress is an online reading game that teaches kids ages 7 to 13, grades 1 to 6. This game continues the online learning from previous Reading Eggs lessons. This teaches structured comprehension, vocabulary, spelling and grammar with live games, an online library, and more!

Mathseeds is an online math learning game that teaches kids ages 3 to 9. This program teaches early math skills. Great for beginners and young children in their first years of school.

Teela and Zari on Reading Eggs.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I have two young daughters. Teela is 9 years old and Zari will be 7 on October 19th. They are in 4th and 1st grades. My daughter Teela has done Reading Eggs before in 2013 because we got a free trial to try it out back then. Teela has grown to love reading and is doing so roughly at a 6th grade reading level now. My daughter Zari hadn't tried Reading Eggs at all and is just starting to read. We hadn't tried the other programs that came with our subscription.

Reading Eggs Navigation

We received a six month subscription to Reading Eggs this time around. This included access to Reading Eggs Junior, Reading Eggs, and Reading Eggspress. We also got a six month subscription to MathSeeds. Both Teela and Zari worked on this educational game an average of three days per week since we got signed up.

Both started with a reading assessment to see where they needed to be. Since Teela had already done one in 2013 she needed to redo hers to see where she was now. They both started with Reading Eggs. I believe Teela made some mistakes on her assessment because she was trying to plow through it...so she was put at a lower level than she should have been. When she went on to the games in Reading Eggs at lesson 111, map 12 they gave her she said the games were boring and that she already knew this stuff. I agreed with her that she already knew it and asked her if she wanted to redo the assessment for a second time and she didn't. So, she just did the rest of the Reading Eggs games and then moved onto Reading Eggspress. Zari was placed in the right place. She started on lesson 41, map 5. There are 120 lessons total in Reading Eggs with about 6-14 games per lesson.

Reading Eggs Lesson Maps

Reading Eggs Lesson Map

• Step 1 Starting Out in the Zoo (Lessons 1-40, Map 1-4): For children ages 4-6 that have little to no reading skills. Children will learn first reading skills, including: learning sounds and names of the alphabet letters, reading their first sight words, and phonetics to read three letter words. Includes simple stories to read featuring Sam the Ant.
• Step 2 Beginning to Read in The Playground (Lessons 41-80, Map 5-8): Builds on skills learned in step 1 focusing on short vowel words and constructing reading skills. Children will learn more high frequency sight words, make word families, and read 40 more books that build vocabulary.
• Step 3 Building Confidence at the Theme Park (Lessons 81-120, Map 5-12): These lessons cover long vowels words and focus on reading for meaning, comprehension, and understanding of longer words and sentences.

Reading Eggs Lesson Parts Examples

Reading Eggs Lesson Parts Example

• Parts 1 & 2 The Main Lesson: interactive animations that are led by a character modeling the concepts. Students need to get 7 correct responses to move on.
• Part 3 Dot to Dot: Students learn correct letter formation with dot to dot.
• Part 4 Letter Recognition: builds letter recognition of upper and lower case letters.
• Part 5 Vocabulary: activities that build vocabulary to be able to read the books.
• Part 6 The e-book: electronic book with audio support so kids can read along.
• Part 7 The Egg Hatches: students are rewarded with creatures that hatch to add to their online collection.

With each reading program there are colorful graphics, characters, and designs to engage the student to keep going. There are fun games, videos, and e-books to also teach the concepts. The students are awarded golden eggs to be later used in the store to buy things for the house and avatar, etc. The navigation around the program is fairly simple. My daughters liked that they could change the look of their avatar, buy things in the shop with golden eggs they acquired through doing well in the lessons, and see their certificates in the My Awards section. I loved that I could see their progress at a glance.

Program Guides for Homeschoolers

Also, in the Parent Dashboard (the home page after signing in) under the menu that has "Bonus Material" you can find Program Guides for Homeschoolers. These are free and downloadable once logged in. These colorful, detailed week-by-week overviews help homeschooling parents to see learning outcomes for children in Kindergarten through 2nd Grade. Each guide contains a 36-week teaching and learning sequence for Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. These map out online lessons, books, quizzes, and assessments.

This is an excellent interactive game that teaches kids better reading skills. I definitely saw improvement in my daughter Zari's literacy skills. My girls loved Reading Eggs and I recommend it to anyone who homeschools or wants a reading supplement for their children or students.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingeggsUSCA
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingeggs @readingeggs
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/readingeggs @readingeggs
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/readingeggs
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ABCReadingEggs
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #readingeggs #learntoread

BUY IT
My readers get 4 weeks FREE trial access to the program to try for themselves! This offer expires on November 30, 2017.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Reading Eggs...

Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids Book Review and Giveaway

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

The Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids book is by Sarah Young, the bestselling author of Jesus Calling. This is Sarah Young’s newest 365-day devotional for kids adapted by Tama Fortner. In this hardcover book she focuses on the biblical teaching of joy we can experience at any time and in all circumstances with scripture and new personal reflections to children. Adapted from the bestselling Jesus Always, each day’s devotion has the same theme as the adult version, as well as written-out Scriptures. It is a wonderful choice for families to read and discuss during devotional time together. Written as if Jesus Himself is speaking directly to the reader, Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids will engage your children and help them connect to Jesus and find joy. Recommended for children ages 8-12.

Teela reading the Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids Book.

What We Thought:
This is my first devotional from Sarah Young and it is just wonderful. The introduction in the book is written by the author and has a personal feel. The way this devotional is written, like it is straight from Jesus is different. Each day has a theme and scripture at the top of the page...then it goes into thoughts and feelings that Jesus might have for the child and recommendations of what the child should do to make their day full of Christ and joy. At the bottom of the page is a Read On Your Own scriptures from the Bible for the child to explore on their own. I had to explain to my children that this was written as if Jesus was speaking. Teela, my 9 year old daughter, really enjoyed reading these. They are thought provoking and make the reader feel loved.

BUY IT
Purchase Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids for $11.69 on Amazon.



WIN IT
Prize: Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids Book
Host: Thomas Nelson Publishing and FrontGate Media.
Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.
Selection Process: winners will be selected on 10/25/2017 and notified by email.
Where to Enter: Go to this link http://www.blessedfreebies.com/jesus-always-365.html and fill out the form to enter.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Wordless Wednesday Resident Bird of Prey

Our resident bird of prey.

Colortime Crafts and Markers - Glow in the Dark! Offer

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Because I am posting about Colortime I am getting a FREE Glow in the Dark Halloween Tote and 3 Markers. Thanks to USFamilyGuide.com for providing me this promotion information and free product. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for posting this promo.

Harlem Globetrotters 2017-2018 Tour Offer

US Family Guide provided me with this promotional information and giveaway to share with my readers. I am getting something for free in return for posting this information.

With a star-studded roster featuring Big Easy Lofton, Ant Atkinson, Hi-Lite Bruton, Thunder Law, Bull Bullard and Cheese Chisholm - plus female stars TNT Lister, Ace Jackson and Hoops Green - the Harlem Globetrotters' show is unrivaled in the world of family entertainment. Their 2018 World Tour will showcase incredible ball handling wizardry, rim-rattling dunks, trick shots, hilarious comedy and unequaled fan interaction. After the game, Globetrotter stars will sign autographs and take photos with fans.

I can't wait until they come to Portland, Oregon on December 27th to the Moda Center!

SAVE 25% for ALL Harlem Globetrotters Games with promo code FUNFAM @globies http://harlemglobetrotters.com/tickets

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Because I am posting about the Harlem Globetrotters I am getting 4 free ticket vouchers for my family to go to the Harlem Globetrotters next showing. Thanks to USFamilyGuide.com for providing me this promotion information and free tickets. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for posting this promo.

Grow Your Own Avocado Tree at Home: AvoSeedo Offer #avoseedo

US Family Guide provided me with this promotional information and offer to share with my readers. I am getting something for free in return for posting this information.


AvoSeedo avocado tree germinator bowl makes it easy for everyone to grow their own plant at home from a simple avocado pit. Easy to use for all ages of amateur avocado arborists, clever AvoSeedo bowl design keeps the avocado pit immersed in just the right amount of water to grow effectively. Made for durability from recyclable, non-toxic materials and is reusable for other vegetables like lettuce, celery, carrot tops! Germinate and grow an avocado tree in your own home, whatever the climate. Fun family (Millennial parents, their young kids, grandma/grandpa) project to make a tree sprout and watch it grow from the pit of a common avocado. Increase kids' understanding of ecology, interconnections in nature, responsibility and care for the environment in a participatory and concrete way.

GROW YOUR OWN AVOCADO TREE AT HOME!
Save 20% on any AvoSeedo avocado grower or other product and enjoy FREE shipping too. Visit the AvoSeedo Shop today and get growing today! https://shop.avoseedo.com/ Use Code: sp20 #avoseedo

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Because I am posting about AvoSeedo I am getting a a voucher for a free AvoSeedo (including free delivery) to anywhere on the continental United States. Thanks to USFamilyGuide.com for providing me this promotion information and free product. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for posting this promo.

Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks Easy Peasy Cursive Review

My family had the privilege of trying Easy Peasy Cursive from Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks was established in October of 2015 when Channie's son was struggling with handwriting. She could not find a product that fit her child's needs so she created her own handwriting workbooks with visual guides to help her child. After a few short months her son was excelling at handwriting and his attitude towards it also became better. Channie's LLC grew from there out of her wanting to help others with children who had similar difficulties. Now Channie's has over 15 new products and her workbooks are being sold at Walmart, Hobby Lobby and retail stores cross over 25 states! These products are proudly made in the USA in North Carolina.

Easy Peasy Cursive is a Channie's visual handwriting workbook that helps with both tracing and writing to reinforce letter formation in cursive. This consumable workbook covers the entire alphabet, A through Z, in cursive with both their uppercase and lowercase letter form. Each letter has two pages of tracing and one page of writing. At the end of the workbook it also has a few simple words to also trace and write in cursive. Easy Peasy Cursive not only shows the correct positioning of the letters in cursive and direction to trace them, it also has slanted or angled guide boxes for proper slant and letter size, green shading to show proper lower case letter position, and divider lines for proper spacing. This workbook is 40 sheets and 80 pages long. The pages are made of 60lb strong recycle paper and printed on both sides. The pad is an standard 8.5 x 11 inch / 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm with paper board backing. The block size is 1/4 x 1/4 inch / 0.64 cm x 0.64 cm. The skip space is 3/16 inch and the ruling is 3/4 inch. This is recommended for children in grades 1st to 3rd, but also works wonderfully for kids that haven't learned cursive before.

Teela working in the Easy Peasy Cursive Workbook.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
My daughter who is in 4th grade now has been working on learning cursive. It has been a slow, painful process teaching her cursive. Frankly, I wanted to find a better way than just the traditional method which only consists of a solid top and bottom line with a dotted center line to use as a guide where everything goes.

I believe that cursive is important for children to learn. It is sad that many public schools do not teach cursive anymore because Common Core State Standards do not think it vital to learn. I am glad that with homeschooling I get to pick and choose what I want to teach my kids. If homeschooling wasn't done in my home I would still teach cursive myself to my children because the public schools probably wouldn't. I feel that cursive is important because: it teaches how to sign one's name, cursive activates and stimulates both hemispheres of the brain and encourages them to work together...thus increasing comprehension and participation (printing doesn't do this), if your child doesn't learn how to write cursive they won't be able to read cursive writing easily, having legible handwriting is a must so that people can read the handwriting and learning cursive can actually help your child to have pride in their penmanship.

The Easy Peasy Cursive Workbook takes the traditional method a few steps further and makes learning handwriting and penmanship in cursive more visual. They use the top, bottom, and middle lines that the other handwriting workbooks do and have arrow guides for which direction to trace letters, but have instead individual slanted boxes with three uniform parts. The top and middle box is for the full upper case letter to fit in. The middle box (which is also shaded green) is used for the lower case letter to fit in except for b, d, f, h, k, l, and t which all go above into the top box as well as using the green space below that. The lower box is for the tales of letters like f, g, j, p, q, y, and z to reside in. There are also divider lines in between letters for proper spacing when writing cursive. These visual guidelines make it so that the child can auto-correct themselves quickly and accurately. It leaves very little room for error.

My daughter Teela has been working through this book and has made enormous progress. She likes this workbook a lot better than ones we have had her do in the past. Now I have my eye on the Easy Peasy Alphabet Workbook for my daughter, Zari, who is in 1st grade because I believe that this will help her handwriting as well. I recommend the Easy Peasy Cursive to all parents and teachers that would like their children/students to learn cursive, homeschoolers, parents/teachers with special needs students, and occupational therapists.


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BUY IT
Purchase Easy Peasy Cursive from Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks for $12.95 at the time of this post.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks...