FamilyMint a review

Online banking is all the rage.  It seems that humans rarely deal in cash anymore.  For someone who has mostly gone to a cash system it is sometimes hard to get another to accept cash. Why? Because cash is hard to deposit with your smartphone.  It is hard to track with a check #.   Now our kids deal all in cash because we pay them in cash.  Our oldest will occasionally get a check for a babysitting job which we have made out to us, hand her cash and then use our smartphones to deposit.  See electronic banking!  Familymint brings online "banking" to the kids.  At first I was not impressed because my kids deal in cash.  The website asks the bankers to be the parents, depositing the kids money into a jar.  Knowing myself I had the kids hang on to their own money:).  Having cash sitting in a jar on my dresser was asking for it to be "borrowed" by ::ahem:: me.  Come on I know I am not the only one!  So my kids retain their cash and we proceded with the program online and the workbook.
As a part of the review I received a premium membership which will run you $29.99, this includes the workbook.  Familymint is running a special introductory offer in which you receive the workbook and a lifetime subscription for this same price.
I used this program with my newly minted 10 year old.  He had quite a bit of holiday money and birthday money in his possession and had goals in mind.  I had him work the first chapter in the workbook.  He came back to me exclaiming that it was fun and he enjoyed writing checks!  I then plugged him into the website with his username and password and he had fun moving his money around.  (mommy brag alert) he hit his spend goal and moved the extras to give with no prompting from me!Here is a screen shot of my son's account.  The red transaction was a lesson on what happens when you click the white box :) Neil has continued working in the workbook and proclaims it is right up his alley.  Not difficult but it makes him think.

Topics in the workbook include, but are not limited to,Tracking your money,

Goal Setting, and Budgeting.  On the back of the 58 page workbook is the certificate of achievement.   

What I liked about Familymint.com.  My son really got into it.  The workbook was geared perfectly for his age.  The parent has options to lock transactions so the kids can't mess with them on their screen.  I could create a savings plan that portioned out any money deposited into his goals of spend, save and give.  I did not have to do the math and chop up the deposit myself.  It gave my son a sense of control over his money.  I loved that allowance is automatically deposited each week.  I don't have to keep track of it :)

I can't think of much that I didn't like other than my own hangup of  just another thing for him to be on the computer for.  But if it creates a fiscally responsible 10 year old who can set monetary goals than I can be ok with extra computer time.  He has almost worked the entire workbook himself and at 10 was moving money around his account.  I think that is a step in the right direction.  I think I might be taking him out later tonight to buy that flash drive he was saving up for!

Blog planner review

I blog mostly when the mood hits me, something important happens in the family or when I have a review to write. I did not think I had a need for a blog planner. After all my blog is very unplanned. However, for our first review on the new review team that I joined we were to review a free blog planner. I looked over our choices and selected the free planner designed and offered by confessionsofahomeschooler. What I liked about this planner is it is simple. I like simple! The design of it is also girly with swirls and such, which makes me smile each time I open it up. Now for a girl who has decidedly unplanned her blog having a blog planner was an interesting concept. I guess my biggest surprise about this product is that I actually enjoy planning my blog now. She has a few layout styles to choose from.  The layout style I chose of the planner is such that I can see in a quick glance how long it has been since I last blogged. Lots of blank lines means I need to upload some pictures and get writing. You can see evidence of that in the picture below!  I can pencil in when my review posts are due and plan around those too. It also offers space to jot some information about my reviews on the facing page making the whole month available at once. It has handy check boxes that allow you to record whether you posted to Facebook, twitter, etc. There are also checkboxes to help you keep track of which posts are giveaways or reviews.

The best part of this blog planner is that it is free! I printed the 15 double sided pages at home. I spent $3 having it spiral bound with plastic covers at my local office supply store. So for a fraction of cost this unplanning blogger has turned her ways to a planning blogger thanks to this planner.

If you would like to browse other reviews for free blog planners head over to mosaic reviews.

Timberdoodle Review~ Critical Thinking Co.

I was so excited to try out three of the books from the Critical Thinking Press provided to me by Timberdoodle


The first one I opened up was Math Reasoning Level B which is for the first grade level.  My 6 year old daughter was between math books when I received it.  She had completed a first grade math curriculum but I was eager for her to review and master some concepts with a fresh approach.  When I opened up the workbook I was greeted with 264 bright, colorful pages.  The pages were not crowded or chaotic.  My daughter took to it instantly.  I was impressed with Critical Thinking Co's math vocabulary and how they applied it to this level.  For instance, instead of asking the kids to draw a line to match objects, they use the term "line segment" thus laying the groundwork for proper term usage preparing them for advanced math.  Besides that, when your six year old busts out with "that's a line segment" in a group of parents, it makes you look like a fabulous teacher :)
The book itself was written to the standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and  offers an introduction for the parent to understand the approach that is being taken.  It goes over numbers and operations, geometry, time and measurement.  It was just the thing I needed to bridge math for my daughter who wasn't quite ready for a second grade level.  She willingly picks up this book and does two pages without being asked.  This book could easily be used with an advanced Kindergartner or an average first grader.  At $39.99 it offers a well rounded math curriculum for one year.

I chose Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural for my 14 year old daughter. I had forgotten that in the past I have previously used Critical Thinking skill books for busy independent work.  When I showed her the book and asked her to work a page a day she gladly agreed.  This book is 259 black and white pages of building figural thinking skills through the use of similarities, analogies, classifications and sequences for $29.99.  I really think of this book as a brain sharpener.  The concepts are presented clearly and again the pages are not crowded.  A full answer key is included in the back of the book.  Building Critical Thinking Skills Level 3 figural can be used for grades 7-12+.  The 12+ is for adults like me who can't help but grab the book and do a page or two just to clear out the cobwebs of the ole brain.

My 13 year old got to help me review Editor In Chief B1 offered at  $16.99.  She is the writer out of the five kids, so I figured this might help her fine tune her writing.  Editor In Chief B1 is a workbook for grades 6-8 which put her in the mid range to do this book.  It has 33 exercises in just as many black and white pages.  Each exercise is presented like the sample page below.  The student is given a picture with a true caption and a paragraph that has errors.  The errors can range from grammar to content.  Each exercise lists how many errors the student should find.  We found it difficult at first to count the errors as we would sometimes count two when the text considered it to be just one.  Despite the initial frustration with figuring out how it was done, this workbook opened up opportunities for us to discuss the errors and talk about what she perceived as errors compared to the answer key in the back.  Some of the errors just plain made us laugh as homophones were used incorrectly.  I added this book in as a busy independent workbook for my daughter to sharpen her writing skills.  I like the concept enough to have her continue working on one or two exercise a week.

All three of these workbooks can be found at Timberdoodle.com You can check out their Free Homeschool Catalog filled with tons of amazing products while you are there.  

 Disclaimer: I received copies of these workbooks for free in exchange for an honest review

TOS Review: TOS June 2010 Module Travel the World!

I enjoy traveling, who doesn't?  Our family takes new roads just to see different scenery.  So imagine my delight when I was asked to review an E-book Schoolhouse Planner June 2010 module Travel the World!.  This E-book put out by The Old Schoolhouse, which is available for $7.95 at TOS Magazine's Schoolhouse Store is an introduction to world geography.  My kids and I were on a summer break when this arrived but we chased away some of the summer blues by diving into Travel the World.


All of my kids ranging in age from 6-14 enjoyed the different aspects of this E-book.  It has lapbooking activities for the younger set and a separate section set aside just for high schoolers to go more in depth.  Within the module there are links to geography games online which were a huge hit with the whole family. The kids and I raced against the clock and each other to place the countries within the continents.  The younger ones enjoyed the included coloring pages and word searches.  My high schooler got a taste of geography through fun activities before she tackles a full year of high school geography.  The high school expansion activities listed in the E-book are ones that I hope to incorporate in her geographical studies this year.  The links to online maps of the different continents and quiz games reinforcing the memorization of countries will prove invaluable.

Included in the E-book is a brief introduction to geography.  It then goes on to talk about each of the seven continents with plenty of links to maps, quizzes and other details about the continent.  There are copy work pages for both manuscript and cursive, famous quotes and bible verses.  A resource list, lap booking ideas, and an answer key are also included in this 56 page E-book.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for review purposes. 

TOS Review: e-book Help, Lord, I'm Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler

I was asked to review this product by The Homeschool Crew as I have "older" kids.  Exactly when did "my" kids get older?  Thirteen years ago homeschooling wasn't even on my radar, now I'm gearing up to homeschool one through high school.  Seriously... high school?
Aging crisis aside...  When I loaded the e-book and read the title it took awhile to register in my brain that I was indeed graduating a junior higher in just 4 short weeks and that this  e-book did indeed pertain to my current life stage.

 Help, Lord, I'm Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler provides encouragement to parents about to embark on high school.  This $12 e-book published by TOS is a compilation of 13 short essays from a variety of homeschooling parents who have been there done that and lived to tell about it.  Amanda Bennett provides an introduction while Deborah Wuehler wraps it up in the epilogue.

Each family's way of going about high school is different, but one thing remained the same for all of them, they sought the Lord's wisdom in the path they should pursue.  Reading how each of them sought the Lord reminded me that I am not the one in charge of my children's educational path.  Relief from buried anxieties flowed through me as I read how each high schooling path was as varied as the child and teacher forging it.  High school does not have to fit any preconceived mold, even within the same gene pool!   I enjoyed reading the different ways the families pursued the high schooling years, whether dual enrollment, apprenticeships, or life skills focused.  It offered insight into finding what was right for each child, by seeking the Lords' direction to suit their individual temperaments, talents and passions.

The final pages of this e-book are filled with resources and web links - from transcripts to general help.  I look forward to grabbing a few of the recommended books to read over the summer.

If you value peace of mind as you approach the high school years, this book is invaluable.


Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this product for review purposes