This Is Your Chance ... TOS Review Crew Appllication

I made the decision in May of this year to fill out an application to join the TOS Review Crew. When I heard I made it in the final cut I was so excited. I had been a subscriber of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for years and read every issue cover to cover. Seeing other blogs of families that were on the review crew always made me a little envious and wish in the back of my mind that I could do the same. Joining the review crew was on of the best decisions I ever made. It pushed me a little out of my comfort zone in the beginning but I love it. The TOS family is incredible. I have received so many blessings from being a part of this group, not to mention the great products you get for free to review and post on your blog.

Now you can have a chance to join up also. Follow the link below and fill out the application. Good luck!!!  Go to TOS Review Crew Application to fill it out.

Hero Tales From Great Waters Press

Raising Real Men is a company dedicated to offering materials to raise children with character. Hal and Melanie Young are the homeschooling parents of six boys and two girls as well as the founders of Raising Real Men and Great Waters Press. I had the opportunity to review one of their products through the TOS Review Crew and just loved the product. They recently gave me the blessing of offering another product to review, Hero Tales from American History.

Hero Tales comes as three cds of stories from American History in an audio book format retailing for $15.00. You really cannot beat this price for what you get. I decided to use the cds in the car for traveling between errands and classes. I thought a lot of the information in the stories would be old hat, things I already knew, but real quick like I found out that was not the case. Immediately I realized how much of American History I didn't know a thing about, especially battle stories. I am not a big war/battle enthusiast which is why my favorite stories were about George Washington, Daniel Boone and John Quincy Adams. I can see this being a big winner with boys and girls for that matter who love all things about wars/weapons in battle/battles. Downloads can also be purchased for $4.00 each or individual cds can be purchased for $7.00. What makes the audio books even more interesting is the material is from a children's book written by Theodore Roosevelt. Now how many folks out there know that he wrote a children's book. I sure didn't. Not only have Hal and Melanie turned the book into an audio story but they have also added sound effects that really bring the story to life. Reading the books aloud is Hal Young himself. My husband loves all things about the wars of America so he is next on the list to get to listen to the stories. Please make sure to visit Raising Real Men and check out this awesome product as well as everything else they have to offer.

Disclaimer: Raising Real Men offered Hero Tales to me free of charge for my honest opinion. All opinions are mine.

Second Annual Acts of Faith Retreat

As I have posted before Grace is in a drama ministry group named Acts of Faith. We travel around and perform skits and music for churches and organizations. This weekend was our second annual team building retreat.
All day was spent at Camp Mikell doing team building exercises, Bible study, and practicing skits. This is the type of outdoor team building activities that you have to work together to achieve a goal. After leaving Camp Mikell the group arrived at my house for dinner and a camp fire with more worship time.

Making a wooden bowl at the camp fire.

After dinner and the camp fire the group headed back to the stables for barn tag then bed. The next morning we had a youth led worship service outside in the fields with music, skits and a message by my husband. 

Grace playing the bongos for music during worship service on Sunday morning.

Grace and myself came home as very tired campers. Sunday afternoon we both took naps. A lot of the group stayed at the stables that afternoon for zip lines but we were exhausted and came back home.

Current Science Project

Hubby created for us a home made incubator. We knew we wanted more baby chicks but none of our chickens are laying or sitting at the moment. Also didn't want to go through the trouble of ordering as well as paying for them. A friend gave us 24 eggs to hatch. This is the first 24 hours of incubation and I am having a little trouble. Humidity needs to be between 55 and 70 percent and temperature needs to be around 100. Well I cannot keep both to stay up at the same time. Either temp is too high or humidity is too low. I think we need a smaller bulb. Will change that out tonight. Hoping at least 12 of these will hatch. Twenty more days and we will see.

Second Field Trip of the Year - Wonderquest

Each Fall we look forward to watching the next Wonderquest production. Wonderquest performs one performance a year for kids. Our homeschool group goes every year. This was our 6th year to attend. Some past performances included: Robin Hood, The Ice Dragon, Briar Rabbit, The Emperor's New Clothes, and James and the Giant Peach. Today we went and say the performance of The Frog Prince. Out of an auditorium of about 300 kids Grace and her friend Josiah were the only tweens/teens present. I guess because we are drama geeks and any chance we get to see a play.....we take it.

Their sets are always very impressive.

After the play all the characters come out and take pictures.

TOS - Zoowhiz

These days what kid doesn't enjoy playing on the computer. What if you could learn math, reading, grammar, word skills, and punctuation while playing.....If so, then Zoowhiz would be a good fit for your family. We were offered a premium subscription to Zoowhiz to review through the TOS Review Crew. Zoowhiz is recommended for students 5 - 15 years of age.

Let us look at what you get with the premium subscription:

• Play Zoowhiz with all the free features
• More cool animals
• More awesome arcade games
• Detailed animal info
• Targeted learning
• Unlimited Access 24/7
• Achievement Certificates (coming soon)

Normally a premium subscription will run you $59.95, but currently Zoowhiz will allow you to upgrade from your free account for only $14.95.

Now let us look at all the components that make up Zoowhiz. All components are found on the map.

Learn and Earn
Learn and Earn has three activities/subjects to choose from: math, words, and reading.

When setting an account up you will choose the age range appropriate for your child, therefore when choosing a subject to learn it will already be in the correct age range. Each problem gives you two chances to answer correctly. If an incorrect answer is given it will then give the correct answer. As questions are answered correctly the student will earn coins to spend. Also the questions that are answered incorrectly will be brought back again and again until answered correctly.

Arcade

The arcade has games such as bubble plunge, pattycake panic, etc. to play. Each game the student plays cost money. First go to learn and earn, gain money, then go play games. Currently there are seven different games to play. Our favorite game was bubble plunge.

Biodome

In the biodome shop a student can purchase animals with the money they collect from learn and earn. Animals include everything from a bulldog to mythical creatures. Once the animals are purchased they are placed in the student's personal zoo. Each animal comes with a description and interesting facts.




Milestones

In milestones a student or parent can view how they are progressing in each subject. Once clicking on a subject a chart will display with all the categories for said subject. Instead of grades the students receive smiley faces with different facial expressions. After the chart displays you can then click on each category to see which problems/questions were missed.



How we used the product and what we thought

We used this product three times a week and included it with our language arts studies. Overall we think this is a good product, especially for visual learners. Immediate feedback is also a plus. We felt that the website was very easy to navigate. Grace liked the different choice of avatars and purchasing exotic animals.




The questions and problems were definitely on her level and some were even hard for her to answer. The education content for older students is good. Graces only negative about the program was even though the learning aspect was on her level, the graphics, games and concepts seemed to young for a 12-15 year old. Also it would be nice to do something with the zoo animals once you purchase them. So to reiterate, this is a good product overall. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. Grace would give it 3 out of 5 stars. As a side note we did enjoy the Australian accents and slang terms that were used throughout the program. The price is right for this subscription too.

Go visit Zoowhiz and check out all the possibilities of online learning they offer.

See what other crew members thought at TOS Review Crew .

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Review Crew, I received this product at no cost to me in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

TOS Review - Beeyoutiful

Beeyoutiful is a company that offers products for healthy living. This company has so much available that I don't know where to start. Let me back up and give you a little background about my family and how we ended up reviewing these products. Two years ago my family started down a path of trying to live a more simply, healthy lifestyle. Are we there yet? Not by a long shot! But this is a marathon, not a sprint. We have all been raised to think a certain way and our bodies, behaviors, and habits show it. I have read and researched a lot about treating our bodies better and what to use to make that happen. So now that I got that out of the way - let's talk about this review.

Beeyoutiful is all about the individual taking control of their own health. They obviously recognize the need for doctors in society, but also recognize the need for the products they sale. I was offered through TOS Review Crew a Beeyoutiful product set that included Berry Well, Miracle, Ow-Ease, Lip Balm, and an informational dvd. All together the products would total $53.00 but you would purchase them separately. So let's get down to the knitty gritty and talk about the products.

Berry Well

 Berry Well is an elderberry syrup plus other ingredients used for allergies, flus, and colds. Berry Well can be used once you get sick to shorten the days of the illness or if someone in your family is sick to keep you from getting it too. Four days after receiving this in the mail both my 22 year old son and 13 year old daughter woke up sick. This was a golden opportunity to try the product in a controlled situation. My son was all about using it and took the recommended dosage every 3 hours. My daughter who hates all medicine refused to take it. The next day my son's symptoms were already 50 - 75 percent gone while my daughters were the same. My husband had an opportunity to use it in the past couple of weeks for his allergies and noticed improvement too. This product retails for $19.75 and I believe it is worth every penny.

Miracle Skin Salve

    Miracle Skin Salve is used to treat cuts, abrasions, bites, stings, diaper rash, minor burns, cold sores and so much more. So far I have used this for minor burns from cooking and it worked like a charm. The ingredients of this product include: coconut and olive oil, beeswax, plantain, comfrey root, propolis, lavender essential oil, and rosemary essential oi. Doesn't that sound like a lot of good for YOU stuff. Some of my readers may remember my recent experience with banana juice burns - I really wish I would of had the miracle salve around to help. Miracle Skin Salve 2 oz. retails for $15.00

Ow-Ease Stick

    Ow-Ease Stick is to be used on bumps, bruises, and sprains. I jokingly told my husband that I needed to use this product for something so if he felt the need to get a bump, bruise or sprain, I was ready. After a bruise occurs, use ow-ease and it will cut in half the recovery time. Ow-Ease ingredients include a blend of beeswax, olive and coconut oil, along with herbs and essential oils. Ow-Ease Stick retails for $15.00

All Natural Lip Balm

   One beauty item I cannot live without is lip balm. I easily apply it 5-10 times a day. When I received Beautiful All Natural Lip Balm I had just ran out of my current tube. It arrived in the nick of time. The ingredients included are grape seed oil, shea butter, beeswax, and essential oils. All natural, all soothing. The lip balm comes in two flavors, peppermint and orange, and retails for $3.00. I would have to say this was my personal favorite. I never leave home without it.


Beeyoutiful Views Dvd

    Beeyoutiful Views is a dvd that explains how many of their products are to be used. Stephanie Tallent discusses how her family uses the products and how they have benefited her family. The dvd would be a good place to start with a low cost of $3.00.


I really enjoyed reviewing all the natural products in the set. I recommend them very highly. Please be sure and stop by Beeyoutiful and check out all their wonderful products.

To view what everyone else on the review crew thought visit the TOS Review Crew .

Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Review Crew, I received this product at no cost to me in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.