Times Alive **TOS Review**

We received a download of Times Alive from City Creek Press through The Old Schoolhouse to review.
Times Alive is a computer program that teaches your child multiplication.  They combine cartoons, songs, pictures, rhymes and other fun features to make a truly memorable program.
Both of my third graders enjoyed this math program immensely. Neither of them knew any multiplication before we started this review. They now both know all of the problems they have gone through with Times Alive. I can even  see them repeating some of the rhymes to remember their problems.
I love that it's easy for me to see at a glance how much they've done, what they've scored and things they started but didn't quite complete ( haha my son is busted ;) ). The lessons are broken down very well so they can work for 5 minutes at a time if they want or keep going longer. This makes it easy for me to add to our daily schedule without adding a lot of time to our schooling, or a lot of complaining about doing it ;).
The program is also done in a way that truly makes it fun. There is almost always a younger child watching on when the bigger kids are working on this. I foresee my little girls will learn multiplication at an early age just by watching over their siblings shoulders.  Ahem I may even finally get better at MY multiplication from this program.

From the Website:

Why It Works

Why FUN WAY LEARNING teaches addition and times tables better and faster.

The old method of “drilling” math tables using flash cards is familiar to most of us. A few students find it successful, but most consider it boring and frustrating. For students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, it is often impossible to learn in this way.

The Fun Way approach to learning math tables eliminates the need for rote memorization. Instead:

1. It presents every math equation as a story to be told, allowing students to attach meaning to the numbers.
2. It attaches a variety of clues and information to the number facts, making retention and retrieval of the information much easier for students.
3. It presents math in a fun and interactive storytelling medium that uses lively imagery and narrative to entertain and inform students.

Through the Fun Way method, students approach the subject of math with renewed interest and attention, making learning a joyful experience for students and teachers alike. 


The only real downside for us is the price. It's a bit pricey at $44.95. Not a program we would be able to afford normally, although after using it I would probably scrimp and save to purchase it because it really is that good. If you can swing it though it's definitely worth the price. Especially if you have multiple children who will use it.

You can purchase the Times Alive Download for $44.95 Here or a CD ROM for $48.95 Here.
They also sell a lot of other products to complement the program and an addition program as well for younger kids.

You can view their other products or try a sample of Times Alive at the City Creek Press Website.

I have received a free copy of Times Alive in exchange for my honest review of the product. No other compensation was received.

To see what my other crewmates thought about this program visit the TOS Blog Here.

Maestro Classics Peter and the Wolf ** TOS Review **

We were blessed to receive a CD of Peter and the Wolf from Maestro Classics through The Old Schoolhouse.
This CD introduces your children not only to the story of Peter and the Wolf through a fantastic narrator but also to gorgeous music from the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
This CD includes (by track)
1.An Introduction
2.Peter & The Wolf (with narration)
3.About the Composer
4.A Russian Peter
5.About the Music
6. Peter and the Wolf (Instrumental only)
7. Invitation to Grandfather's Party
8. Kalinka (Dance Along)

The CD also comes with a 24 page educational booklet ( that my children promptly stole and LOST so I cannot say anything about that other than it looked fantastic for the 30.2 seconds I saw it). If my children ever find it I'll add some info about that to my review.

Peter and the Wolf is absolutely wonderfully done. The narrator has the perfect voice and the music is gorgeous and enchanting. We have and will listen to it over and over again. Everyone loves it from the two year old all the way up to Mom. The piece about the composer is interesting and very educational as well. One of my favorite features is on track 5 where it tells you which instruments are telling the stories of each animal. That bit of information really brought it to life for the kids. After learning about that you can really see the animals movements through the music. Honestly there's nothing about this I don't love.


.At $16.98 The CD's are very affordable although I must say I would love to see a slightly cheaper MP3 download so I can buy them ALL because I love them SO much.

Other titles available are

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel – timeless classic story
• Peter and the Wolf – every child should own this great work
• Tortoise and the Hare – a very fun version of this tale
• Juanita the Spanish Lobster – sassy and funny from an English composer
• Swan Lake – some of Tchaikovsky's most beautiful music
• Casey at the Bat – everybody loves baseball, right?
• Sorcerer's Apprentice – magical story and exciting music
• Juanita la langosta española – great for anyone speaking or studying Spanish

You can purchase Maestro Classics CD's Here. I obviously think you should go get one right now because they are fabulous!!


I received a free copy of Peter and the Wolf for my honest review of their product. Unfortunately I did not receive any other compensation but I would gladly take more CD's ;). ( Kidding but did I mention I love this)

See what my other crewmates thought Here

See- N- Read **TOS Review**

I received some great products from See-N-Read through the TOS Crew. We received two See-N-Read's
one book size and one letter size. We also received one Memory Mark that has no plastic over the window so you can use it to highlight or underline.

You may be asking what exactly is See-N-Read? Here's an exert from the website to help explain it.

See-N-Read® is a practical reading intervention tool....designed to help readers seamlessly see, focus, and remember what they read. It reduces word- and line-skipping and pattern glare.

See: See-N-Read® helps readers to concentrate on and track the text being read while smoothly transitioning between the words that come before or after, thus helping readers to increase their fluency (the capacity to read text accurately and quickly) and comprehension.

Focus: See-N-Read’s clear reading window is surrounded by a non-glare tinted transparent finish that helps readers to focus on manageable “chunks” of information in each line of text.

Remember: See-N-Read® provides readers with a clear reference point that helps control smooth eye movements across the text on a page. Smooth eye movement from left to right and smooth transitions from line to line ("sweeping") enhance retention of information.

See-N-Read’s flexible material makes it easy for readers, young and old, to hold and use it as they read.

Our Experience:

The big difference I saw in this vs other similar products is that the other lines are not blacked out but simply darker. This way it is easier to read smoothly vs stopping and waiting while you slide it down. I found it very useful as a place marker while I'm reading in school. My kids never just listen straight through as I read of course. They have questions and want to discuss things. With this tool I know exactly where we left off and can pick back up our reading much quicker than I could previously.
Both children were resistant to using this at first. My daughter is a very fluent fast reader and she felt it slowed her down a bit so she hasn't used it much. She does however like it for more difficult reading and uses it to read her scriptures.
My son is dyslexic and uses a yellow reading sheet with his reading. After we combined the See-N-Read with his yellow sheet he likes it a lot more now. Perhaps this is a product the company would be interested in producing for readers with special needs.

I think I will probably cut up one of his yellow sheets and attach it myself to the See-N-Read for ease of use.
Here is what his invention looks like on paper.

They also have the Memory Mark which is what I've been using during scripture study. It's window is cut out so you can neatly highlight or underline things easily. I love this because I am not always the neatest underliner/highlighter and this makes my markings look so much nicer.

All in all I think these are great, easy to use products and inexpensive enough that you can give it a try easily and not lose much if it isn't for you.
You can purchase the See-N-Read Here. 
The Document Size is $3.49
The Book Size is $2.99
You can purchase the Memory Mark Here. 
The Document Size is $3.49
The Book Size is $2.99

You can see what my crewmates thought about their products here. 

I received these products for free in exchange for my honest review. I did not receive any other compensation.

Good Morning, God **TOS Review**

I was given the opportunity to review a sweet little book from Apologia Press called Good Morning, God.

This book is written for young children to learn about our Heavenly Father. There is a nice simple story illustrating how our parents are always teaching us and how God is present in our daily lives. At the end of the book it gives you day by day guides for teaching for a full week out of this book.  It includes scriptures to read, thought provoking questions and activities to do together.
I did not find this book to be geared towards any one religion and find it could easily be accommodated to fit the needs of any Christian faith. I would not however recommend it if you are not Christian as it does mention Christ several times.

From the website

Good Morning, God is a story about a four-year-old boy as he goes through a week with his family. This book is designed for children age one to eight years old. Ideally, this book will help your child fall in love with our heavenly Father by thinking about Him from sunrise to sunset. The hope is that this book will introduce children to the simple and wonderful ways we can worship God daily and inspire them to enjoy the Lord with their entire being all through the day. The prayers for each day are meant to encourage your child to consider his or her relationship with Jesus and respond with childlike faith.

There are several ways this book can be used as a discipleship tool to accomplish these goals. The most basic is to simply read the book as a story. One can also read the book everyday, then read a short list of scriptures, discuss a few questions provided to help start a conversation, or do some activities that are given for each day of the week. Following this latter plan would result in reading the book eight straight days and would basically make the book a mini-curriculum and a literal application of Deuteronomy 6:6-7, where parents are told to impress these commands on their children's hearts and talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the time reading this beautifully illustrated, heart-warming, family-friendly, and God-centered story to your little ones.

This book is available here at the Apologia website for just $14.00. If your looking for a sweet, simple introduction to Gospel Study I think this book is a great start. I also like the fact that after you spend the week studying the material you can remind your children of all they've learned simply by rereading the book often.


I received this book free of charge in exchange for my honest review, no other compensation was made.

End of the Year Pictures

I try to take nice "staged" photos of the kids at least once a year. If I'm really on the ball I do it before Christmas and put some in a frame for Grandparents. Here are this year's pics.... If you don't want to see a massive amount of pictures now's your chance to run away.

Some from my first attempt indoors

Christmas Crafts

I just wanted to share a fun little craft we did this Christmas. Yes I know it's late but I've been a blog slacker.
We got the idea from the filth wizardry blog. We always do the snowflakes but this year we added the tissue paper stain glass window. It was a blast and very pretty although quite hard to remove from the window. Not sure if we'll do it again or not... I guess it will depend on if I forget what a pain it was to get off or not.

Christmas Ballet

We now have all of our children taking classical ballet. We are so blessed by their fabulous teacher and all ballet teaches them. Weylin opted out of the Christmas performance but here are some pictures of the others. They all did a fabulous job and remembered their whole dances. I was especially impressed by how good the older kids are getting. We are getting ready to start work on the spring performance of Snow White which we are all excited for.

 I made all the boys costumes :)

 Miss Rachel with the four older kids ( Anna danced on a different night, Peyton and Amelia danced both nights though)

 We weren't quite sure Anna would dance because she hadn't wanted to during any of the practices. She did a great job although it started out quite humorously. She walked onstage pulled her tutu up to her armpits, stuck her baby into it and proclaimed very loudly she had to pee. She started to run out then changed her mind and decided she would dance first. I stood by the side praying she wouldn't pee on the stage ;)