Salem Ridge Press Review

Anyone that knows me, knows that I devour books. I remember as a small child, before I could even read, being entertained for hours through books. As I grew older, I was fortunate enough to have access to good quality literature. Seeking the same for my own children has proven to be a bit difficult. Many times the books I seek are out of print and difficult to find and if they are found they are normally asking a pretty penny for them. So imagine my delight when I received 3 books from Salem Ridge Press to review for The Old School House Magazine.

Salem Ridge Press Company (just under 5 yrs old) was founded by Daniel Mills, an homeschool graduate himself. It was after a couple of particular reads that were out of print that Mr. Mills was inspired to start his own company to reprint similar quality books that were no longer being printed. He wanted to provide others with the same exposure to quality literature as he had been blessed with. I was drawn to this company not only for the access to great literature but also because it is built on a biblical foundation.

Philippians 4:8 captures the thinking and motives behind their company.Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Our family strives to read living books and this company can easily provide just that. However, even if you are a family that schools with just textbooks or doesn't school at home, you will find these books to be a rich asset to your read alouds. The books can be purchased through Salem Ridge Press. The prices vary depending on whether its a soft or hard cover (ranging from 12.95-24.95) They also provide a link for purchasing e books.

One of the books I reviewed was Soldier Fritz and the Enemies He Fought.

It is an historical fiction, taking place during The Reformation. It's the story of a young boy and his birthday gift (a bible which was illegal to own at the time) that learns to fight battles of pride and accepting consequences. Fritz's family is forced to go into hiding to avoid being thrown into prison for owning a bible. At that time, the church felt that only the Clergy should own their own scriptures to read and therefore disapproved of Martin Luther and his ideas. My children loved this book as did I. It is recommended for ages 8 to adult.

The other two books were e-books. One titled Mary Jane Her Visit and The American Twins of the Revolution.

Both were excellent reads.

Mary Jane Her Visit, captured my daughter's attention. I even found them role playing 5 yr old Mary Jane on her great grandma's farm. It's a sweet story recommended for ages 6-10. This version differs from the Project Gutenberg Version. However, Salem Ridge Press made their revisions to bring the book up to their standard. Some people, like me, like careful ommissions for subject matter that may be a bit questionable. Others however, do not like edited books. However, I did not think that it took away from the book in any way.

Lastly, there is The American Twins of the Revolution. This, like Soldier Fritz is an historical fiction, telling the story of twins (a brother and sister) who help hide a shipment of gold from the British in order to help General Washington pay his discouraged troops. This book is also recommended for ages 8 to adult.

All three books were excellent reads. Salem Ridge Press has 27 titles in print with a variety for different ages. I highly recommend this company.


Disclosure: I received a print copy of the book Soldier Fritz and e-books of Mary Jane- Her Visit and The American Twins of the Revolution for review purposes only.

Give A Way--- at A Wise Woman Builds.

A Wise Woman Builds is having a give away for an Lilla Rose flexi clip. What is a flexi clip you might ask? Its a flexible (hence the name) clip that wraps around your hair so that it can be pulled up in a variety of ways. They offer an assortment of styles and in addition have an 0-ring used for a pony tail. They also offer pins and jewelry. Those that have used the )-rings and flexi clip say they stay put in your hair all day. I haven't tried them yet but am eagerly awaiting my order. Here's the link. Go check it out for yourself. Good Luck!

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/2010/09/charming-and-elegant-lilla-rose-flexi.html

Math Essentials

Math Essentials (www.americasmathteacher.com)is a math website that provides learning, exercise, evaluation and resource centers. It also provides speed drills along with basic, advanced, pre-algebra, and algebra math.
I had the opportunity to review the basic math course which was geared for 4th and 5th graders. The topics included in the Course 1 were, whole numbers, fractions, decimals, geometry, integers, number theory, algebra, charts and graphs, probability and statistics and word problems. My daughter is just beginning 4th grade and is not at a fourth grade math level at the time of this review therefore, we mainly just tried out the printed exercises for whole numbers. They were pretty thorough and provided plenty of practice. The website also provided quizzes, exams and video lessons. Because of my daughter's level we were not able to take advantage of all the resources provided. I wish that they had a version for students under 4th grade. However, those resources that we were able to use worked very well. The price for the homeschool membership is $195.00 for the year. The education memberships are as low as $1.00 per student. Given all that is included in the membership I thought that was a fair price especially if it is used with multiple students.

*I was given this material free of charge for review purposes only.

TOS Review-Peterson Directed Handwriting

 Peterson Directed Handwriting  is not just another cursive or print handwriting program as I thought it would be.

It is a program that uses different colors in the strokes of the individual letters to help them learn the movement sequence and a chant or jingle to help them remember how the movement sequence goes. They provide E-workbooks to let you lead and print your own lesson pages from Acrobat Reader. The size of the worksheets are smaller and deliberately designed to fit the size of the child. This allows the child to hold the paper correctly and write easier and properly on the paper. They also have the Wacom Digital Tablet software if you pefer that route. Their goal is to allow the child to learn to write using their memory rather than draw from tracing or trying to match what they are seeing. And then finally, formulate that properly onto paper.

Many children usually have established habits of wanting to draw letters rather than write them but PDH teaches them to engage the motor system by not actually writing on paper at first. The chant or jingle they provide creates a beat and challenges the child to move with rhythm when practicing.

For example, the letter "d" would have the curved part in green and the stem part in brown. The child would say "poke around" as they drew the curve and say "tall down" as they drew the stem part of the letter "d". The child first practices this by writing it in the air. These steps teach a top down, left to right process vs. down up (as found in most tracing programs). PDH has a link to a video that explains why tracing may do more harm than good when learning to write. While PDH has many tips and information, there are four main steps they teach to enable the child to learn to write.

They are the following:

Step 1: Illustrate and Describe

Step 2: Write in the air and say

Step3: Finger trace and say

Step 4: Write and Say

My children loved this program. We are continuing to practice it. Peterson Directed Handwriting provides a way to review the childs progress as well. The Print version has Pre-K through Grade 4. The staff is very helpful. Rand Nelson was available by phone and internet to answer any of my questions. I would highly recommend this program to anyone searching for a handwriting program. The cost of this program is $75.00 each for PDF hand print or cursive or you may purchase the combo for $125.00.


I was offered this resource free of charge for review purposes only.

The Girlhood Home Companion Magazine

Raising Homemakers http://raisinghomemakers.com is doing a give away for “The Girlhood Home Companion Magazine.”

Here is what she had to say about it....

"It is a beautiful, high-quality magazine produced by Jill Novak and her family of Remembrance Press. In it you will find stories and encouraging essays on being godly young ladies, recipes, crafts and even some paper dolls from my own daughters.
Mrs. Novak is graciously giving away a bundle that includes a back issue of “The Girlhood Home Companion Between Friends” and CD.
Give-away ends Friday, August 27th at midnight."

Charlie and The Trike in the Grand Canyon Adventure

A Wise Woman Builds Her House is having a great book give away for Charlie and Trike in the Grand Canyon Adventure. She has had several others this week that I forgot to register for......So don't miss out. There are four possible winners for this one!

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/

Travel The World

I was recently given the opportunity to review The Schoolhouse Planner June 2010 Module "Travel The World!" by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine I was excited to see that it focused on geography because I had been wanting to implement some geography study into our schooling. I couldn't find an age range recommendation so I quickly perused the material and found that it would suit all of my children who's ages range from 4yrs-9yrs old.

The module begins with an introduction to geography by explaining what geography is and how the Earth is shaped and how it rotates. It provided scripture verses to show how the Earth tells God's story. We had a globe to explore but for those who do not, a picture of a globe was provided. It discussed in a fun and simplistic style what the equator was and how latitude was used to show north and south and longitude showed east and west from the equator. My little ones were just as intrigued as my older children. It went on to explain how maps have special features that globes can not give us and talked about how God provided us the land and waters. It used fun songs to help children learn the continents and provided extra links and online games for locating countries in North America and labeling states and capitals.

It was packed with additional geography fun as well. Including extra links to games, quizzes, family fun, and homeschooling ideas. We created a fun lapbook to put together all that we had learned. I used the worksheets provided for my 8 and 9 yr old and the coloring worksheets for my little ones to color. For $7.95 this module was packed full of information to teach your little ones about geography. It was easy to download and didn't need any additional resources to teach it. I loved that it exposed the information in a fun, easy and entertaining manner. I didn't have to tweak it all for my younger children and it still held the attention of my older ones. I would highly recommend this to those wanting to implement some geography fun into their schooling.

I received this product free of charge for review purposes.