TOS Crew: Mathletics

When the TOS Homeschool Crew received a 45-day subscription to the Mathletics website, I was excited. I had already signed up for the free one-week  American Math Challenge, but with the TOS subscription our girls were able to explore the site before the Math Challenge began. (And a good thing, too, but more about that later.)

American Math Challenge

I didn’t really “get” this. I’m not sure if there’s an explanation in an email I missed, or something. Students and classrooms all over the country seemed to be racking up points somehow, and yet a big part of the Math Challenge seemed to be playing games (“problem solving” section?) that didn’t seem to generate points. It appeared that you got points by answering the questions in the “Practice” section, or engaging in live math contests (sort of like fact drill races).

(Technical difficulties)

I guess that the points students earned were applied towards the American Math Challenge, but our girls weren’t motivated to try in that competition, as they weren’t able to start until late Wednesday (even with a couple of phone calls for technical help on Monday and Tuesday, though I must say the tech folks at Mathletics were sympathetic and did their best to be helpful). For some reason their passwords would get them into Mathletics, but not into the American Math Challenge, so that by the time they were finally able to access the American Math Challenge they felt like there was no way to catch up–hopelessly behind, in other words.

World Math Day

In addition to the American Math Challenge in November, Mathletics hosts World Math Day in March. I’ve heard exciting things about World Math Day but can’t tell you anything from personal experience about it. Yet.

Practice, Problem Solving, Live Competition

As for Mathletics, there are three sections we’ve been working through:

- the Practice section, which allows the student to practice grade-appropriate math concepts. From what I’ve seen in our daughters’ accounts, there are ten main subject areas, and each of these is further broken down into sub-areas, ten questions in each sub-area. Looking at the sixth-grade screen today, I clicked on the “Decimals” topic, and got a list of sub-topics where the student will manipulate decimal numbers by comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, estimating, etc. Within each subtopic you answer ten questions. You get points for right answers, and if you get 100% you win a “gold bar”. If you don’t get 100% you can repeat the sub-topic and see different though related questions.

The Problem Solving section involves math games. You don’t gain points through solving these problems, but the reward comes with a short cartoonish video at the end of the game when you win.

Live Competition is available at the click of the mouse. Your student can choose to compete against one or more other students drawn from all over the world. It was fascinating to think of all these other people “in school” at the same time that we are, even in New Zealand on the other side of the world! As I watched, I saw our daughters spurred to answer math facts faster and faster, beating their own record even when they didn’t win against others. Of course, it was a real ego boost when they did win.

Spending points

What do you do with the points you earn? You get to spend them in the avatar store. You see, when you first register, you get to pick a figure (girl or boy) with a few basic choices in dress, hair style, accessories, and backgrounds.

As you accumulate points, you can spend them to vary your avatar’s appearance. Our girls really get into this kind of thing, and evidently other students do, too–we get to see their avatars during live competitions, and they can be quite striking in appearance.

Points accumulate on a weekly basis, and a running total of top point-earners appears on the main page.

A subscription to Mathletics is $59 (accessible 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for 12 months) per student. Mentioning the Human Calculator’s favorite number (9) when you sign up gets you $10 off. There’s a 10-day money-back guarantee. Sign up at the Mathletics website. To put the cost in perspective: $49 is less than a dollar a week per student for math drill that is fun and motivating…

To read more TOS Crew reviews of Mathletics, click here.

Disclaimer: The TOS Homeschool Crew families were given 45 days of free access to Mathletics for every student in their families. Opinions shared here reflect our family’s experience.

TOS Crew: Gymathics DVD

When I started watching the Gymathics DVD, it was just me and the dog in the living room. It didn’t take long for curiosity to draw the girls in, though. (What’s Mom doing, watching a video during math time?)

The dog was excited to see me doing the warmup stretches along with the video. It looked to her like the kind of stretches that take place before getting out the leash and going for a walk. Walks (along with meals) are the high points of her day. She wagged her tail and brought me her stuffed toy just to let me know she was interested.

I kept following the moves on the television screen. The dog didn’t, of course, but she plonked herself down right beside me to offer moral support. Before long, however, Middlest had joined me and was doing the warmup stretches while commenting on the mathematical relationships pointed out in the video. The warmup stretches were easy, even for this out-of-shape mama.

The video doesn’t really teach basic math concepts, but works well for review or reinforcement. We’re talking about lines, simple geometric shapes, patterns, place value, and some skip counting. The math facts target young learners in Grades 2-5. I could see where doing the exercises every day brings a playful attitude to math. In addition, incorporating gross motor activity has been shown to help dyslexic children to learn letters and sounds–why not math concepts?

The workout includes:

- warmup stretches, incorporating lines and shapes

- aerobic exercise, such as jogging in place, air punches and kicks, along with counting

- step patterns (sort of reminded me of aerobic dance routines), with a discussion of different types of patterns

- strength training, including pushups and crunches

- cooldown stretches; no math here, but lots of brief statements related to healthy living and positive thinking

Middlest commented often during the video when a move resembled something she’d learned in her Pilates class. I noted elements that could have been taken from a number of exercise classes I’ve taken over the years, including aerobic dance, calesthenics, water exercise (without the water) and stretches.

Neutral background music

Instrumental music accompanies each segment, appropriately peppy or soothing as suited the exercises or stretches. Middlest found the peppy music annoyingly repetitive, but she finds repetition annoying in any event. The first part of the video seems to be set in a small room, while later segments are on a deck in front of a beach setting.

All ages

As if to emphasize that the video is appropriate for all ages, there are one or two girls and two boys exercising on the video. They range in age from a little girl (preschool or early elementary) to high school aged boy.

Our girls were enchanted with the little girl on the video, and just a little disappointed that she wasn’t in the segment with pushups and crunches. I wondered if some exercises were age appropriate? In addition, the exercise leader performed a different kind of pushup than the others, and her crunches looked different. It might have been nice to have an explanation of different levels of intensity, or alternate ways of doing the exercises, perhaps in an “additional feature” on the video.

Cheerful role models

The children on the video show varying degrees of coordination and ability, which is reassuring to the klutzes among us. They’re also good sports, high-fiving each other at intervals when called to do so by the exercise leader, and performing all the moves with good-natured smiles.

Gentle, beginner-level workout

The 30-minute workout is appropriate for a range of ages, and gentle enough for someone just beginning an exercise program, though of course the video includes the caution that you should check with a medical professional before beginning an exercise regime.

The Exploracise® Gymathics® DVD is available for $24.99 from the Exploramania website (see link). A second DVD is due out soon, with a higher intensity workout and math facts targeted at students in Grades 4-7. You’ll find other products combining math, exercise, and concepts for healthy living at the website.

Click here to read more TOS Crew reviews of Gymathics.

Disclaimer: TOS Homeschool Crew reviewers received a free copy of the Gymathics DVD for personal use. TOS Crew reviewers receive no monetary compensation.

TOS Crew: Sarah Books

(This has been one of those reviews that is very difficult to write, because the book kept disappearing… taken by one avid reader, or by another when the book surfaced once again, so that for the longest time I caught only tantalizing glimpses here and there.)

History has been one of our favorite subjects, and one reason is because we supplement our studies of historical periods and events by reading historical fiction. We have pretty high standards for historical fiction, though. I like books that are faithful to the past time periods they are portraying, i.e. the dialogue doesn’t sound modern, the children behave appropriately for their time period, the children in the story aren’t portrayed as smarter than the adults, etc. Writing from a Biblical basis is a plus.

Jim Baumgardner, author of the Sarah Books, has written a series of books set in the 19th century, about an orphaned girl who takes on her late mother’s charitable yet dangerous mission. Three books have been published so far, and another is in the works.

Mr. Baumgardner is passionate about history, as well as a gifted storyteller. His characters spring to life in your imagination–as Middlest says, she can easily imagine herself inside the story. Eldest, too, wanted me to tell you that she gives Sarah’s Wish five stars (out of five, of course!).

Sarah’s Wish is the first book in the series. The book is set during the time before the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression, as my Southern cousins like to call it), during the time of the Underground Railroad. Through reading, you get a good idea of day-to-day life at the time, as well as the dangers involved for those who were trying to escape to freedom, and those who helped them.

The book received high marks from our daughters, who have been begging for the rest of the series ever since reading Sarah’s Wish. (Well, Christmas is coming…)

There’s a link in the back of the book to a free audiobook download, and the author is offering special pricing to readers of  TOS Homeschool Crew blogs. You can email the author at JBaumgardner3@cox.net to get a form sent to you, or go to this page and print out the form.

In addition, the author kindly provided discussion questions for homeschoolers who are reading Sarah’s Wish. I’ve copied them to a page, which you can find here.

Special pricing is as follows (from the author’s email):

Sarah’s Wish – 126 pages            $8.50 retail: $10.99 save $2.49

Sarah’s Promise – 245 pages       $10.50 retail: $14.99 save $4.49

Sarah’s Escape – 304 pages         $15.50 retail: $21.99 save $6.49

Extra special offer: Purchase all of the items above and add an extra copy of Sarah’s Wish for $4.00. You can give it to a friend. They will think you are great!

To read more about the author and his books, to order books and audiobooks, or to sign up for the Sarah’s Web newsletter, click here.

To read more TOS Homeschool Crew reviews of Sarah’s Wish, click here.

Disclaimer: Members of the TOS Crew were sent a free copy of Sarah’s Wish. All opinions in this review belong to our family (but we hope you’ll enjoy this book as much as we have!).

TOS Crew: Virginia Soaps and Scents

One of the fun things about being on the TOS Homeschool Crew is getting to try products I’d never heard about before. When the soaps from Virginia Soaps & Scents arrived, it was like getting an unexpected present in the mail!

The soap sampler was beautifully packaged, a group of small hand-cut bars (three soaps and a shampoo) nestled in with a little packet containing the makings for homemade laundry soap. I wish I’d taken a picture of it! Here’s a picture from the Virginia Soaps & Scents website.

The soap bars are softly scented with natural oils, creamy to the touch, pastel colored or delicately marbled. They come in a number of scents: We received coconut lemongrass (refreshing!); oatmeal milk & honey (gentle scrubbing, with real oatmeal–but not drying to the skin); and fresh orange (mmm, that citrus smell). The bars were well-cured and have lasted well.

Soap bars are 4.5 ounces and sell for $4.50 per bar, or in various combinations (3 for $12, buy 4 get one free, 10 bars for $35). Victorian Rose, Violets and Lace, and Country Clothesline will make wonderful stocking stuffers for people I know and love (but shhh! Don’t tell the girls!)…

I’m really happy with the shampoo bar. I’ve used shampoo bars before but had gotten into the habit of buying inexpensive shampoo, some years ago, after young daughters-who-will-remain-nameless-here decided to use my somewhat spendy mail-order shampoo bars to wash their dollies… ouch!

Recently I’ve been reading the chemical list on the backs of those shampoo bottles, and looking for a more natural product. Our allergies have steadily been getting worse, and I’ve read some sobering information about the chemicals routinely found in health and beauty products, but hadn’t been able to find an affordable alternative yet. Virginia Soaps & Scents‘ package came along just at the right time!

Different hair types seem to respond differently to the shampoo bar. Middlest, with her thick, wavy hair, does best if she rinses her hair with a vinegar-water solution after shampooing. I have thin, fine hair and find I only need to rinse with vinegar about once a week, or I start having trouble with tangles. The rest of the time my hair is smooth and shiny, and looks about as it used to when I’d use one of those volume-promoting shampoos.

Each 5.5 ounce shampoo bar sells for $5.50 each, and lasts through many washings.

The Laundry Soap kit is fun! If you’ve read the recipes and how-tos on the web for making homemade laundry soap, this will look familiar. The kit contains grated unscented cleaning soap plus packets with premeasured amounts of borax and washing soda. This is exactly the recipe that I’ve been using the last few years!

The sample kit we got made 1/2 gallon of laundry gel (you use it about 1/2 cup per load), while the full size kit ($4.95) makes 2 gallons (64 – 72 loads at less than seven cents a load). There are no dyes or perfumes, making this a good choice for families with allergies (which is why I started making our own laundry soap awhile ago). I’ve been told that you can use this in HE front loading washers, but I don’t have one of those. I do know that it’s low-sudsing but does a good job of getting the clothes clean, and you can use it for pre-spotting stains as well as in the washload.

If you go to the Virginia Soaps and Scents website, you’ll find a long list of  products, including all-over body bars, pet shampoo, lip balm, body butter and body powder, gourmet and holiday soaps, and more. (Gourmet soaps, you ask? Chocolate soap, for one! The others range from elegant to practical, with a little whimsy thrown in.) I’m planning to order soaps for Christmas, including their bayberry-scented Christmas soap for our bathroom and a variety of scents for presents.

Along with our sampler pack, the Crew received a brochure telling the inspiring story behind Virginia Soaps & Scents. It is the story of a family crisis, of beauty rising from ashes, and finally, of a homeschool history project that turned into a family business.

I give this family business an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and tender thanks to The Old Schoolhouse for introducing us to their products.

To read more TOS Crew reviews, please click here.

Disclaimer: Members of the TOS Crew were sent free sample boxes from Virginia Soaps and Scents to use and review. Results reported here are from our own family’s experiences. TOS Crew members receive free products for review purposes, but no monetary compensation.

TOS Crew: Life on the Farm game

The timing was perfect.

We were just sitting down to dinner when the UPS truck pulled up outside. I hurried to the door to intercept him — the dog goes bananas if someone knocks on the door, but if you get to the door first, she just grumbles more or less under her breath.

Well. When the girls saw the return address said “We R Fun” we had to open the box immediately. When they saw it was a game the rest of the evening was planned: We’d eat, wash dishes, and sit down to play the game. They’ve been begging to play a game after dinner for a long time now, but with the busyness that the school year brings (outside activities take up the calendar) we just hadn’t managed.

Three things combined to make the most fun and diverting game night we’ve had in months:

- We’ve all been sick, the last two weeks, and most (not all) of us are feeling better and looking for diversion

- Because we’ve all been sick, all outside activities have gone out the window

- Life on the Farm is a lot of fun to play!

This award-winning game was created by a Minnesota farm family and is designed to give players a taste of the dairy farmer’s life. The aim is to build a herd of 60 cows, whereupon you may retire (that’s how you win the game). It’s not so easy as it sounds — a cow can get hit by a car, or struck by lightning, or shot by mistake by a hunter. Cows can get into your neighbors’ fields, requiring restitution. Not to mention the problem of cattle auctions: It seems as if they come along just when you’re short of money, and then when you have saved up a fair amount of money to buy cows, you keep missing the auction for one reason or another!

As you go around the board, you pick up Income and Expense cards (taking in or giving out money as you go), collect cows, lose cows, sell your milk, pay taxes, take a breather in the pasture. This last became rather a popular happening — after a few unexpected expenses or crises, we’d breathe sighs of relief to land in a pasture space and get to rest for a bit!

We started the game a little tentatively, but it wasn’t long before we were throwing ourselves into the game, naming our cows as we collected them, or had to say goodbye (“That Elsie, she was a good cow, she was. I’m gonna miss her.”), grumbling about hunters cutting fences and trespassing on our land, letting cows out and causing other problems, and watching warily for the “Infernal Revenue Service” to make an appearance. The grownups enjoyed the game as much as the kids!

Four of us played the full game (the fifth was too sick to play, but found the game interesting to watch for a little, before heading back to bed) in about two hours. You can play a shorter version as well, but I doubt the girls will let us take that route. We had way too much fun playing, to cut the game short.

It’s supposed to be educational (I think we learned a lot, actually) but it’s just plain fun!

Materials are sturdy and colorful. The girls especially noticed the cute design of the play money: farm animals, a farmer, the denomination (of course), and a plain, unapologetic “In God We Trust” notation right there on every bill.

The game is designed for 2-6 players, ages 8 and up. There’s also a preschool version for younger children.

Life on the Farm is available from the We R Fun website for $25.

To see more TOS Crew reviews of this product, please click here.

Disclaimer: The First Mates on the TOS Crew each received a free copy of Life on the Farm or the Life on the Farm Preschool Version for the purpose of using and reviewing the game. TOS reviewers receive no monetary compensation for reviews. Opinions expressed here are those of our own family. Individual results may vary (but we hope you’ll have as much fun as we did).

TOS Crew: Web Design for Kids (and Curious Grown-ups)

Hey, all. How’s it going? I’m a little behind my time, as Mr. Cratchit was, but trying to catch up with all the good stuff we’ve been exploring, so I can share our family’s impressions with you.

Most of the TOS Crew reviews of Web Design for Kids (and Curious Grown-ups) were posted a month or more ago, so my apologies to you for being behind the curve. On the other hand, perhaps this is just what you were thinking about, and so the timing is right for reading this now. (Looking on the bright side…)

We enjoyed watching this video, and I learned some things even though I’ve been using some basic HTML tags for years now. (Yes, I can italicize, embolden and underline text, even strike it out and center it!)

The girls have learned a little coding from their computer-savvy dad. One even knows enough to be able to put the church’s bulletin online each week, though a lot of the work is just search-and-replace to update various elements such as hymns and scriptures. With Web Design for Kids she gained a better idea of why she was doing what she was doing, as well as why things sometimes didn’t work.

As the genial instructor on the DVD teaches, even the littlest things are important. If you leave out a bracket, for example (on the video they are called “less than” and “greater than” signs), you can cause most or even all of your webpage to apparently disappear.

Mr. Richardson, the instructor and man behind Web Design for Kids, is an experienced middle school computer literacy teacher, and it shows. The DVD simulates the perfect classroom, as a matter of fact, with two students who seem interested in what they are doing and excited about the results they’re getting as they follow the simple steps. They even laugh at the teacher’s jokes! (Actually, I think everyone in the room, including the camera crew, laughed at one of the jokes. We did, too!)

Working right along with the video, his students (and the viewer) build a simple webpage using three elements found on Windows-based computers: Notepad, Paint, and Internet Explorer. You don’t even need an Internet connection for the first few lessons.

Some of the language is simplified, and the instructor re-names some technical terms to appeal to the student’s imagination, making concepts easier and quicker to grasp. (For example, he calls closing HTML tags, you know, the ones with the forward slash, that you use to turn off things, “stop signs.”) Our 11yo had no problem with the instructions. Mr. Richardson recommends the video for ages 8 and up.

The instructor insists on capitalizing the HTML within the brackets, something an online tutorial I took says not to do. I can see his reasoning, though. It makes the codes stand out.

In the course, you learn how to create the basic frame for a webpage, view it in Internet Explorer, tweak the text with colors and special effects, and add background and pictures. As a bonus feature, the DVD includes a simple explanation of file management.

If you go to the Web Design for Kids website, you can see sample websites created by students, view a one-minute clip from the video, read a list of frequently asked questions (why learn html anyhow? why not just use a program to build websites? I was going to talk about this in my post, but he answers it so much better than I would have…)

I almost left off the most important part. If you go to the website, you can order the Web Design for Kids DVD. Right now there’s a half-price special, meaning you can get the DVD for $19.99 plus shipping and handling.

A follow-on DVD with more advanced topics is due out sometime this year.

To read more TOS Crew reviews of Web Design for Kids, please click here.

Disclaimer: Members of the TOS Crew were each given a free copy of Web Design for Kids for personal use. The TOS Crew receives no pay for writing reviews. Reviews reflect the reviewer’s own experience with the product, and the reviewer’s own opinion. Individual results may vary.

Is it swine flu, or isn’t it?

Well, it probably isn’t, from what I read of symptoms, but it certainly is a nasty crud, and all five of us have it now. Our laptop has also been ill, curiously enough. (Can laptops catch a virus? Um, not this kind at least. What we think we’re dealing with there is the power supply, a replacement of which was supposedly shipped to us nearly two weeks ago. The thing is under warranty, and so the replacement part is free, but at this point I’m sorely tempted to go out and order the replacement part on Amazon or someplace.)

That means we have a ratio of one computer to five people who are all looking for some kind of diversion. Reading can be a lot of work if you’re feeling sick. Television is okay for a time but gets boring. Ah, but the computer… it’s so wonderfully soothing. And distracting. And addictive.

I’m up before the rest of the family to get a little ‘puter time in–have had almost none over the past few days. It’s telling that “up before the rest of the family” is nearly noon. We are not in the habit of lying in past 8 or 9 o’clock, even on a day of rest. However, the cough that goes with this virus is something that keeps you awake enough in the night that you don’t really want to get up in the morning.

Hey, take your vitamins and suppplements (garlic is supposed to be good but didn’t fend this bug off forever, for us) and drink lots of liquids and gargle and do whatever you can to stay healthy. While cocooning has its merits, it really wreaks havoc with our neat and tidy schedule of classes and outside activities. Not to mention housework and other things.

Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom

Got directed to this blog today via my subscription to The Homeschool Mom’s Site of the Week (SOTW) email newsletter.

The Homeschool Mom itself is a great resource, by the way.

Anyhow, in today’s issue they linked to Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom. It looks like there’s a lot of good information there on planning and organizing your homeschool. The current series topic is taming those piles of paper that stack up around the house.

Look familiar?

I’m looking foward to reading more tomorrow when my eyes aren’t crossing from weariness!

One of my aims is to get to bed before eleven. Gonna have to hustle to manage that tonight.

G’night!

TOS Crew Review: Amazing Bible Timeline

I love timelines, for a number of reasons. For one thing, I’m very visual. You can tell me something and it’s “in one ear and out the other.” I often have no idea if two historical figures lived in the same era, even though their biographies contain dates and events. However, show me their entries on a timeline, and I have an instant visual understanding of who was a contemporary of whom, and what events might have been part of their back-fence gossip.

I was, early on, excited to get the Amazing Bible Timeline. It summarizes about 6,000 years of history on an oversized poster. (This assumes that the earth was created about that long ago. I have no problem with that, nor with the idea that an all-powerful God could create everything in the space of six days. He’s all-powerful, isn’t He?)

This timeline is necessarily abbreviated, giving about an inch-and-a-half of space per century. Very early centuries aren’t too crowded. Up until the Flood, as a matter of fact, you’re looking at Biblical genealogies of Adam and his descendants, one line descending from Seth and another, in a different color, from Cain. After the Flood, things really start to take off, with multiple colors to represent the families and cultures springing from Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Much of the information used to build the chart comes out of early church sources, like Ussher’s History.

Obviously, the further back you go in history, the less agreement there is on specific dates. The chart includes a disclaimer to this effect. Major world cultures are at least mentioned, though there’s not a lot of room for details. You have a visual picture of the early church splitting into Roman and Byzantine factions, a list of popes to the present day, and a brief record of the Reformation.

The closer you come to modern history, the more crowded the chart, and so the editors had to make some choices about what people and events to include. Thus, you won’t find a lot of rulers of France or England represented (something I was looking for, and so I noticed their absence) but you will find a number of the explorers who set out from Europe to the New World (something else I noticed, because we’ve been studying them in the past few weeks). The print is very small, to squeeze things in.

We’ve had some fun, tracing the Biblical genealogies and looking at the time frame we’re studying this year (we’re in the 1400s and 1500s at present). The girls have enjoyed finding familiar names and events. I’m afraid the timeline is too abbreviated to really add to our studies at present. We’ve done a lot of timeline work in the past and this timeline, in the girls’ opinion, doesn’t really add anything new, except perhaps… (read on)

A caution for your consideration: The early history of the Americas includes references to the Book of Mormon, and I’ve been told that the publishers themselves are LDS, though the publishers choose not to reveal their religious background. They do, however, publish an LDS version of the Amazing Bible Timeline, and admitted that the non-LDS version was re-created from the LDS version when the original was lost.

I have to admit that my knowledge of North and South American history is just sketchy enough to make me look at the timeline askance. I don’t know enough to recognize LDS historical claims that may be scattered among the notations, and so how can I tell our daughters which parts fit the scheme of things as we understand them, and which parts don’t? I do fairly well on the Bible references and European history (and the chart seems to reflect these accurately), but early American history is not something I’ve made a study of (yet).

Thus, we might look at entries in the timeline related to what we’re studying, just as a quick context-check, but probably wouldn’t use it for a primary source in our history studies, not, at least, until the confusion is cleared up about what on the chart is LDS-based history, and what isn’t.

The Amazing Bible Timeline retails for $29.95. Purchasers also receive links to an interactive Bible map and the timeline in PDF form.

To read more TOS reviews of this product, please click here.

I’ll be posting more about how we use timelines in our homeschool, in a future post.

Disclaimer: TOS Crew reviewers were provided a free copy The Amazing Bible Timeline for review. Members of the TOS Crew are encouraged to offer honest opinions of review products, positive or negative, and are neither required to endorse reviewed products, nor to return them to the vendor. TOS Crew reviewers receive no pay for trying products and writing reviews.

TOS Crew: Nature Friend Magazine

I’ve seen lots of ads for Nature Friend magazine. For years I’ve looked at the little postcard-sized ads that came in the mail, or in a homeschool conference packet, thought about it for a moment, and then recycled the card.

Then the good folks at Nature Friend sent the TOS Crew two issues of the magazine.

The first thing I have to tell you is that I almost didn’t get to see it! The magazine was an instant hit, and disappeared quickly from sight. I caught occasional glimpses of the first issue, in the hands of one or another of the girls, but it wasn’t until the second issue arrived that I was able to intercept and sit down with a copy.

(I did demand, and got, custody of the first issue as well, as the deadline for this review loomed closer… but I’m under orders to surrender the magazine just so soon as I hit the “Publish” button.)

You really have to see this magazine–hold it in your hands, turn the pages with their incredible images bursting off the page–to appreciate it.

I’ve heard Nature Friend compared to other, secular, nature-themed magazines for children, but the drawback to those magazines is, yes, they are secular and riddled with evolutionary theory. Nature Friend’s motto is “Helping Families Explore the Wonders of God’s Creation” so you know right where they’re coming from.

Let me use the August issue as an illustration of what the magazine offers. On the cover is a dramatic photograph of an owl in mid-swoop, outspread claws an inch away from grasping an unsuspecting mouse. (When you turn the page, you get a two-page spread of the same photo, only expanded.)

But that’s just the start! You might very well judge this “book” by its cover… because in the Study Guide included with the issue is an article on how to photograph an owl in flight. (As you may know, owls fly silently, so being sure to get such a picture takes some work and planning ahead.) It was fascinating reading, though perhaps upsetting for younger readers as it involves using live mice as bait.

Within the magazine you’ll find articles, stories, puzzles, games, the Mailbox (questions and comments sent in by readers), fun facts, a drawing lesson, and investigations that spark wonder at God’s magnificent Creation!

…and let’s not forget the illustrations, the drawings and breathtaking photos!

(You can see photos at the Nature Friend website, for an example of what you’d see in the magazine. The photo at right came from the magazine website.)

Reader contributions (stories, poems, photographs, and more) are welcome, and one issue a year is completely devoted to reader submissions.

You can subscribe to Nature Friend for $36 a year for U.S. residents (that’s just $3 an issue, worth every penny and then some). For an additional $2 an issue, you’ll get the Study Guide, with additional reinforcement activities (plus answer keys) and lessons.

A subscription to Nature Friend would make a wonderful Christmas or birthday present! (Hint, hint.) If you have grandparents or aunts and uncles who aren’t sure what to give a homeschooling family, let them know this magazine is on your wish list!

As for me, having held the magazine in my hand, having seen our daughters’ enthusiasm, I’m subscribing. (And I’m going to hint to the girls’ aunt and uncles that an upgrade to the Study Guide would make a great Christmas present–for me!)

Edited to add:

Oops! I forgot the discount code! Use coupon code BLOG93 to save $3.00 on a new subscription to Nature Friend Magazine (valid until November 30, 2009).

To read more TOS Crew reviews of Nature Friend, click here.

Disclaimer: TOS Crew reviewers were provided two free issues of Nature Friend for review.