Little Wonders Preschool from Wisdom Wonder Project Review

{Disclaimer:  I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.}

 

This is G's last year of "official" preschool.  He has been using the Little Wonders Preschool from Wisdom Wonder Project this month and loving it!  The Little Wonders online subscription bundle has curriculum for three levels - Preschool, Junior K, and Kindergarten.  The program is designed around childrens' developmental stages and books.  We have access to all 3 of these levels for a year, which is awesome, so we can pick and choose the best path for G!  I absolutely love this feature.  Our bundle includes Literature, Block Play and Little Masters (Art).

Regarding Literature, this curriculum includes material for 4 picture books each month so you will use one book each week.  These books are not included within the curricula so you will need to own them or have access to a library.  

 

We were able to find 3 of the 4 books used for September's Literature at our local library!  We couldn't locate Planting a Rainbow so we were flexible that week and used other books that we already owned.

Reading Peter's Chair

 

Rosie's Walk was one of G's favorites.  He loved answering the questions about the book and enjoyed pretending to be Rosie and what she might be thinking.

Above you can see G enjoying the past the mill sensory activity.

 

Swirl by Swirl was a lot of fun too.  G still looks for spirals everywhere we go!
 

G making dough spirals inspired by Swirl by Swirl.

The Little Masters (Art) focuses on one book and one famous artist each month. Student will be exposed to various elements of art and they will have a space to create and practice it.  September's book is The Line by Paula Bossio (another shout out to our local library for having this) and the artist for the month is Andy Warhol.

The Line by Paula Bossio

G had a lesson on the color wheel.

G mixing color while painting - he loved making green!

Above, G is making dots on his paper with Q-tips.

Now, his dots are going for walks.

Similar to The Little Masters, The Block Play aspect of this curriculum has one book per month as well and focus on experiential learning.  We weren't able to find September's book of the month at our local library but I was able to locate a cute online adaptation video of it so G was able to watch it.

 

The Block Play book for the month of September is Changes, Changes by Pat Hutchins.

The Block Play section has so many fun activities to discuss and do together this month.  It has a vocabulary section to discuss with your student - words like under, over, below, etc. to help improve their directional skills.  It also has mapping activities where students can build a city and then make a map of their city.  They will use their blocks to stamp shapes into dough.  

 

 

 G absolutely loved this activity.

They will build a house from blocks as well as other creations inspired by them.  They will also see just how high they can build a tower until it tumbles.

G building a tower until it falls!

While I haven't shown you everything, I hope that you have a good feel for this program.  G is really loving it!  It's engaging, enriching and just plain fun.  I appreciate that he is enjoying learning.  I'm also impressed that these books were all new to us.  We read a lot and I was pleasantly surprised by this fact.  We are both looking forward to October's curriculum and books.  If you are looking for a hands-on, engaging curriculum for your young students, I'd highly recommend Wisdom Wonder Project!

Wisdom Wonder Project also has a Young Scholars program (First/Second Grade) and a Kindergarten Singapore Math program as well.  Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read even more reviews of Wisdom Wonder Project including some of their other programs.

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Zig Zag Puzzler from Timberdoodle Review

I have a fun brain puzzle to share with you today from Timberdoodle, the Zig Zag Puzzler.  I love the multi-colored, multi-geometric pieces.  Right from the get-go, the Zig Zag Puzzler looks intriguing.  This one player game is geared for students 12 and older.

Our Zig Zag Puzzler

What's included?  This Smart Game includes a divot-like container that doubles as two playing boards, nine colorful pieces, and two manuals that contain 40 challenges each (40 2-D challenges in one and 40 3-D challenges in the other).

 

Above you can see the puzzle pieces.  Their are 8 unique pieces and an extra red piece for a total of nine.

 

A working on a challenge

How do you play?  A player begins by placing one or more of the nine, colorful pieces onto the playing board in specific positions.  The manuals give you instructions for setting up the beginning of each challenge with a picture.  The player then uses the remaining pieces to fill in their board.  There are 5 levels of difficulty - Starting, Junior, Expert, Master and Wizard.  As expected, the difficulty increases with each level.  Every challenge has only one solution and the manuals contain a solution key in the back of the book with answers to every challenge.  A has been working through the challenges and has really been enjoying it.

I mentioned previously that the container doubles as 2 playing boards.  The blue gameboard is used to build pyramids and 3-D challenges, while the white gameboard is used to build zigzags and 2-D challenges.  You can see above that the lid fits either side nicely.  A's favorite are the pyramid challenges, she is at the Master level for them.

Let's walk through one of each type of challenge to give you a better feel for this game.  First we will look at a 2D zigzag challenge using the white gameboard.

We will look at Challenge 8, a Starter level challenge.

 

And above you can see A's progression as she solves this challenge.

{Sometimes setting up the board is a huge part of the challenge itself figuring out where the initial pieces go.}

And when you look at the solutions key, you can see that she has the correct solution.

Now let's look at a 3D pyramid challenge using the blue gameboard.  Since these are A's favorite we will look at a more challenging puzzle.

We will look at Challenge 18, an Expert level challenge.

Again, the images show A's progression as she works her way through this puzzle.  Just as before, setting up the board is very much a part of each challenge!

There are a few more steps, as this puzzle was more complicated.

Again, when you look at the solutions key, you can see that she has the correct answer.

Zig Zag Puzzler is sure to give your brain a fantastic cognitive workout with 80 puzzles!  It uses logical building steps that will help develop visual-spatial skills, analytical skills, fine motor skills as well as memory.  I like that it is self-contained within the jewel-like case.  I also appreciate that this game is compact and would travel well.  A is definitely a fan.  B plans on starting the challenges next followed by C.  We highly recommend Zig Zag Puzzler!

You can see how the Zig Zag Puzzler is self-contained and stores everything nicely!

The Zig Zag Puzzler is a new addition to Timberdoodle's 9th Grade Curriculum Kit and we are now thrilled to have it as part of our homeschool resources!  This would make a fun and unique gift idea for birthdays or holidays.

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  Timberdoodle sent my family the Zig Zag Puzzler in exchange for our honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Moroccan Geodes

 

Over the summer, we participated in a Red Letter Challenge with our church.  We read the Bible together, read aloud other stories and the kids had a lot of fun with the weekly activities and challenges.  One of the younger kids prizes one week was Moroccan geodes.  I wanted to share us cracking our geodes open.  The kids loved this and were really excited to see all the white quartz they found inside.

 

The kids with their unopened geodes!

 

To crack open our geodes, we placed them in a sock and then gently used a hammer to smash them.

 

 

 D with her open geode!

Inside one of our geodes.

Another view

If you have never done this, it is definitely a fun activity.  Geodes are fairly plain on the outside but contain beautiful crystals within - they are such great examples of not judging a book by its cover!

Science Fun with Skittles {Rainbow Experiment}

The "littles" and I had a lot of fun the other day with Skittles.  We did a very simple rainbow experiment using only Skittles and water.  Simply place the Skittles in a circle pattern on a plate, alternating colors as you wish.  Pour water all around the outside of the Skittles and watch the magic happen and rainbow form.  The whole experiment takes only a few minutes and the kids loved it!  Hope you try it yourself.

Here is our plate of Skittles!

You can see our rainbow just starting to form after we added our water.

I love the way the colors bleed into the center.

Above you can see G pointing to the colors.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

It's almost done...

It does look a bit messy at the end.  I prefer the pictures when the rainbow is halfway formed.  But it is nice that it does complete itself in the middle.

Happy National Teddy Bear Day

G with his bears Brownie and Cookie

I hope you had a "beartastic" day today in honor of National Teddy Bear Day!  We had a fun time celebrating with everyone's favorite bear friends throughout the day.  G even wore his teddy bear shirt!

 F with Brookie

 E with Super Bear

And D with Honey (the big one) and Luvs (the small one)

Royals Volleyball

B plays on the JV2 team for the Royals

I'm so proud of B and her volleyball team, the Royals!  It has been so fun to watch the girls continue to grow this season.  I love that this program encourages growth both on and off the court!  The coaches are amazing and B is learning so much and making great friends.  B had a nice run of serving the other day at their game and I was such a proud Mom.  Enjoy the video compilation below of a few of her serves and her awesome team.  And Go Royals!

Reading Eggs from Blake eLearning Inc. Review

{Disclaimer:  I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.}

Blake eLearning Inc. has a fun online learn to read program called Reading Eggs that my younger crew has been enjoying.  We received a 1-year subscription for D-G!

D, E, G and F showing our Reading Egg's App

You can use a browser or App to use Reading Eggs so it works for a variety of devices.  The kids use it on our iPad and computers.  This program is geared for children ages 2-13 and it helps make reading fun, interactive and rewarding.  Reading Eggs is a comprehensive learn to read program that was created by a team of teachers, writers and developers - what a great collaboration!

Above you can see our family dashboard with D, E, F and G's avatars.

You can also see that there are multiple programs to chose from within Reading Eggs:  Reading Eggs Junior (Ages 2-4), Reading Eggs (Ages 3-7), Fast Phonics (Ages 5-10), Reading Express (Ages 7-13), and Mathseeds (Ages 3-9).  The kids love earning prizes, like their golden eggs, along the way!

Inside Reading Eggs Junior

G has spent a lot of time in Reading Eggs Junior.  He can listen to books, watch video and participate in a variety of activities.  He loves learning and having Reading Eggs as part of his school this year.

 Above you can see the book Five Little Monkeys

Here is a peek inside the book.

 And above you can see an example of a video G watched, Five in the Bed.

Inside the video

Activities within Reading Eggs Junior

 Playing Memory

 Learning to write a lowercase a

G's dashboard, you can see he has earned a lot of eggs so far.

D and E are older and have spent the majority of their time in Reading Express.  They had to take a placement test at the beginning.  There are lots of books for them to read and fun games and activities for them to complete.

 Above you can see D's dashboard

Here she is working on Lesson 141 on Haikus

The younger kids are just starting to use Mathseeds (uses lots of number games to help build math skills as they collect golden acorns) and Fast Phonics (uses lots of fun games in which children can climb to reach various levels and mountain peaks within Yeti World).  Check out the short video of Fast Phonics below to see even more about this fun program!

In Fast Phonics, there are books embedded within each peak of Yeti World.  Children complete comprehension quizzes after reading each book.  There are also learning videos to help reinforce phonics instruction.  Children practice key phonics skills as they progress through the various levels.  And of course, there are upgrades and rewards all along the way.

I look forward to incorporating Reading Eggs even more into our current school year!  I really appreciate that Reading Eggs is self-paced so the kids can move at their own speed.  I also like that their are tons of wonderful e-books available to them.  Reading Eggs is easy to integrate into our school week.  It encourages reading and fluency in a fun way and the kids enjoy it immensely.  We would highly recommend it!

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