Times Tables Made Easy!

I was so happy to be able to try out the "Times Alive" software by City Creek Press. My 5th grader has had a terrible time memorizing multiplication tables. This software has been like more of a game to her and she has learned her math facts without struggle. She loves to get on the program and watch the videos and learn the songs. The songs and videos are cute and catchy. They make the facts easy to remember. City Creek Press is a great company to work with. They have been very quick to answer any questions and have been very helpful. City Creek Press products come from a very solid background:

From http://www.citycreek.com/ :
The success of City Creek Press, owned and operated by educational pioneer Judy Liautaud, comes from its continued dedication to the education of children. In 1992, while operating the Sylvan Learning Center in Bountiful, Utah, Judy was determined to find a way to help her students learn math tables in a fun and meaningful way. She created a unique method that connected visual images, stories, and songs to mundane number facts. Judy tested her method through the teachers at the center, who were delighted to discover that their students now approached math tables with real interest. Further studies demonstrated that students using Judy’s method retained 95% of the facts on average.
The great success of this method led Judy to create her first publication, Times Tables the Fun Way, which was published in 1992 through a company she established called Key Publishers. Judy’s second book Addition the Fun Way soon followed, achieving the same high levels of success among students.

Click on the image to the right to take a look at a video from the Times Alive software:

Or, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/TimesTablestheFunWay#p/u/4/F35_ZRpRzJIRzJI

Or, to explore other features of the software, go to: http://www.citycreek.com/Articles.asp?ID=133
The software itself is priced at $44.95. There are multiple companion products available through the City Creek website as well. I have enjoyed being able to watch my daughter learn her times tables very independently. Because the age at which children learn their times tables varies, Times Alive software is suitable for virtually any elementary age student. It is a great supplement to any existing math curriculum. Reports can be generated for the parent/teacher and lessons can be repeated as desired. All in all I think this is a really well-rounded software for learning times tables. It worked for us!

To see what other reviewers have to say about Times Alive go to:
http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783695/

Enjoy!

**I have not received any compensation from TOS, City Creek Press, or Times Alive Software in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.**

Amazing Math Site!

I must admit, I have been skeptical about online math programs. TenMarks has been a pleasant surprise. This program can serve as either a supplement to an existing math curriculum or as a stand alone curriculum. Students are able to watch video help lessons, work online math worksheets and receive immediate feedback, earn rewards, and take online math tests. The parent area is very user friendly and allows parents to customize the number of worksheets their child completes, the rewards their child can receive, and multiple other options. "TenMarks offers lessons and personalized programs that cover all the core math skills and concepts your child will need in school."
•Grades 3-10
•Over 100 core skills per grade
•Hints and video lessons for every topic
•Mapped to state standards
(From the TenMarks website)

This is a screen shot from one of the worksheets. A great feature of TenMarks is the immediate feedback at the end of a worksheet and the ability for students to go back and rework just the problems they have missed. Students love not having to re-do the entire worksheet. Our daughter worked on the 5th grade math and has loved it! The reinforcement for her math curriculum was wonderful. TenMarks really helped move her on to more challenging material. She was a little frustrated at first, until she learned that she could watch help videos and get hints. Then she really took off. TenMarks has been so helpful that I recommended it to a friend of mine who is a math teacher. She is recommending it to all of her students. It is a great bargain at $10/month for the premium program. I have a feeling we will be continuing our TenMarks program. If I even attempted to stop it my daughter would have a fit! Using TenMarks is her reward everyday! To see what other reviewers are saying about TenMarks go to: http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783666/. To visit the TenMarks website go to: http://www.tenmarks.com/tmother/parent-index. Enjoy!

**I have received no compensation from TenMarks or TOS in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.**

Cool Bible Dictionary!

For the past several weeks, my family has been enjoying the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids. Actually, our eleven year old has completely confiscated the Bible Dictionary and taken upon herself the task of being the authority on biblical information. She loves being able to look up Bible terms and characters and learn more about them. She even carries the dictionary to Sunday School with her!
Sold through Lifeway Christian Stores, the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids is a colorful, hard-back book. Over 750 Bible terms and characters are addressed in the book. It is geared to kids ages 5-10 (our daughter was ten when we received the dictionary), although older kids enjoy the wealth of information it contains. At $14.95, the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids has definitely proven it's worth to our family. My children renewed their interest in Bible study and research through using this book. I would recommend it to any family as an introductory Bible dictionary. It is a beautiful book and we have thoroughly enjoyed using it. We will continue using it for years to come I'm sure. To see what other TOS crewmembers have to say about the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids, go to http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783689/

**I have received no compensation from TOS or Lifeway Christian Stores for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.**

Tandem! Wow!

Tandem, published by Waterbrook Press, is a thriller! If you are at all fond of the vampire stories, you will love this. It is a vampire story with a Christian theme. Twists and turns in the plot abound. You can read more about the book on Waterbrook's website or CBD. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Heaven!!!

If you haven't signed up for Homeschool Freebie's e-mail, you need to do so. Yesterday, the free resources were about snow. Today, the free resource is a slow cooker cookbook. If you are anything like me, you enjoy putting ingredients in the crock pot in the morning and enjoying a hot meal in the evening with little to no additional effort. This is a great cookbook, and it is free today if you visit the homeschool freebie website. Here is the link: http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/
Happy slow-cooking!

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!!

I ran across a great bunch of resources today. We have been snowed under for several days, as has a good portion of the country. Homeschool Freebie has a lot of free resources related to snow for their daily freebie. Most of these resources will be available for several days, but some are only available today. There is even an audio story with a listening guide about the Blizzard of 1888. Great stuff to use to alleviate cabin fever!
Click here to go to their page: http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

Need Help Focusing?

See-N-Read tools, at first, appeared to me to be cute little tools that my family might enjoy for a while. I was skeptical as to the actual effectiveness of these tools. Boy, was I wrong! These tools have proven to be invaluable to my children who have trouble staying focused in their reading. My daughter improved both her oral reading skills and her comprehension in just a few sessions. As a matter of fact, she took over the ownership of all of the tools and won't read without one of them. I plan on taking the Memory Mark tool back for her as it is fabulous for use when studying and highlighting. We have found such usefulness out of these tools that I want to purchase a set for all of my children. My husband has found it very helpful in Bible reading. The tools are very reasonably priced. They range in price from $2.99 - $69.99 (for large quantities). The tools come in various sizes to accomodate different text presentations. One of my favorite tools is the eSee-N-Read. This is an electronic tool to be used in conjuntion with text on the pc screen. For now, the application isn't available for Macs. I would love to see an application available for e-book readers. I could really see that being productive. As a co-op teacher, the eSee-N-Read is very helpful in highlighting and isolating text for students. The tools are firmly grounded in research, as evidenced on the See-N-Read website:

The See-N-Read® Reading Tool (patent pending) was designed and developed by Sylvia R. Smith, Ed.D. as a practical reading intervention tool to support the essential visual and cognitive skills necessary for readers to more effectively receive, process and remember information. Dr. Smith’s conclusions are grounded in research in the areas of learning theory, reading, visual discrimination, ophthalmology and psychology.

On a personal note, my husband has been recovering from a head injury for the past fifteen months. One of the results of the head injury was a problem with tracking and focusing. He has been using the book size tool to help him focus on text and has seen great results. The anti-glare, matte finished material that the tools are made of is helpful to eliminating both glare and distractions. I have seen similar tools before that are made of shiny plastic which is distracting and causes eye pain after extended use. None of us experienced distraction or eye pain when using the tools. On the contrary, we all noticed less eye strain and completely eradicated page distraction when using them.

I would highly recommend this product for anyone, child and adult alike. It is not solely for those with reading difficulties. It is effective for all readers. I especially recommend the eSee-N-Read for anyone who spends a lot of time on the computer. The opaqueness of the tool can be adjusted to suit your needs and you can open as many tools as you need at one time. Using the e-tool removes a majority of distractions from pop-up type ads as well as back-lit computer screen glare. To read what others have experienced while using See-N-Read tools, go to http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783605/.

**I was not compensated in anyway by TOS or See-N-Read for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.**