Dr. Joyce Herzog is an author of many educational products and a gifted teacher. She taught for over 25 years in classrooms of learning disabled students and has been working with homeschooling families for over 20 years. She is a sought after speaker, author, and consultant conducting workshops all across the United States and Canada.

Besides counseling, Dr. Joyce Herzog has developed a variety of learning products. These products are designed to provide a unique and appropriate education focusing on the talents and skills of each individual.  Her products fit well with most homeschooling approaches including: Charlotte Mason, relaxed homeschooling, the “real book” method and more. Those families with special needs will find that her philosophy and materials serve them well.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew Reviewed twelve different products from Joyce Herzog.

Scaredy Cat Reading System Levels 1 ($75), 2 ($75), & 3  ($100) and Scaredy Cat Reading System Express ($30).  This is a mastery based phonics reading system. This system teaches students to think and works where others fail. This system works with normal, gifted, learning disabled and dyslexic learners of all ages. Spelling is also taught as a part of this program. The Reading Express system consists of teacher training with activities and suggestions as well as board games, all the stories, all the word lists and sentence lists for Levels 1, 2, & 3.

Learning in Spite of Labels ($15) This is a book about practical teaching tips and a Christian perspective of education.In 22 chapters this book looks at various teaching strategies for all sorts of learners. The book is full of tips and strategies for working with all types of learning disabled learners.

Timeless Teaching Tips ($15)  This book is the culmination of Joyce Herzog’s decades of learning through teaching. It shows how to interject fun and personality into your teaching.

Choosing and Using Curriculum Set ($15)  (one physical book, one e-book)  This book and resource e-book is a home educators guide to choosing curriculum. Curriculum types are discussed as well as homeschool styles, avoiding over-spending, grade levels, your child’s progress and much more.

Luke’s Life List ($30) and Luke’s School List ($30)  Based upon Luke 2:22 Luke’s Life List is a list of Christian Knowledge and skills in Early Childhood, Wisdom, Structure, Favor with God, Favor with man and Adult life skills. We should never get so “busy” covering curriculum that we forget important lessons needed for living a Christian life. Luke’s School List is a K-8 checklist of school skills. Use this book to decide what needs to be learned and what is not important.

Stepping Stones to Praise and Worship ($15) and Stepping Stones to Bigger Faith for Little People Book and Audio ($12)  These two books are devotions based on Scripture. The Praise and Worship book has 52 devotions written at a 4th grade reading level. This devotion book is designed to minister to all ages in a family. The Little People Book and Audio is 37 devotions based on Scripture. These are written at a 2nd grade reading level, but designed to appeal to all ages.

Budding Authors ($10-$15) (five book set) and  6 Weeks to Understanding Grammar ($12)  Help your budding author discover his /her talent. This series develops writing skill step by step from simple sentences to research. The Grammar book teaches parts of speech, kinds of words and sentences, verbs and a variety of other grammatical terms.

Bible Quotes ($12) These are Bible verses that go along with each rule in the Scaredy Cat Reading System. This book gives practice with reading, spelling, handwriting and works with any phonics program.

Educational Dice Bag ($23) This is three different bags of dice and one Math Operations die. One bag is an Alphabet Dice Delight which includes an alphabet die, a vowel die and instructions. One bag is a Rolling Dice Games which includes one number word die, one numeral die and two colored dot dice. The third bag is Deca Dice Fun. This includes one deca numeral die, one deca number word die, one deca dotted die, and one double deca die.

The most effective way to learn a foreign language is to actually use that language in day-to-day life. Most of us can’t just pick up our families and move to another country for language immersion, so products that help you replicate that environment into your home are extremely helpful to homeschoolers. Spanish for You! was created especially for mixed-age groups in the 3rd-8th grade range. Students learn to write, read, and speak Spanish through materials appropriate for their age, while providing plenty of opportunity for practice communicating.

Two full-year programs centered around topic areas, Fiestas (Celebrations) and Estaciones (Seasons), are currently available. Reviewers have been using Spanish for You! with their families, and are ready to share their experiences. Spanish for You! is centered around themes, rather than levels, allowing parents to choose packages based on interest, rather than level of experience. A third theme, Viajes (Travels), is available right now as a short trial program; the complete package will debut in June 2013.

Each Spanish for You! package has been tested by the author, over a full school year, in a teaching environment. This has allowed her to check for consistent quality and usability. Spanish for You! incorporates a variety of learning styles, with workbook pages, audio files, and s

uggestions for interactive learning and communication.

All Spanish for You! programs include a soft-cover textbook, plus multiple downloads that include:Lesson Guides include plans for 4-days per week, but it’s flexible enough that more or less material may be covered, so long as the lessons are worked through in order.

• a 24-to-30 week lesson guide in PDF format (grades 3-4 is 30 weeks; grades 5-6 and 7-8 are 24 weeks) – Sample lesson guide
• self-checking worksheets for grades 3-4, 5-6, or 7-8 in PDF format – Sample worksheets
• MP3 files of the entire book to use as the lesson guide instructs
• bonus MP3 files of a native Spanish speaker reading the entire book
• pictures for creating flashcards and other activities in PDF format

Spanish for You! has free mini lessons and free worksheets so that you can preview their style and approach. Also provided for free are many activity and game suggestions for practicing Spanish.

Spanish for You! allows you to purchase the configuration most appropriate for your family. A theme set that includes materials for all grade levels is $64.95. A package that contains just the file needed for a specific level – 3rd-4th, 5th-6th, or 7th-8th – is $39.95. Extra volumes of the textbook are $12.95 each. (The same text is used for all three levels.) Optional teacher lesson plans, only needed if you plan to use Spanish for You! in a classroom setting, are $12.95.

Home School in the Woods specializes in writing hands-on history timelines, activity packs, lapbooks and more!  Home School in the Woods was created by the Pak family who began homeschooling in 1996.  They found that they enjoyed history a lot more if they could ‘see’ how it all worked together.  They began using timelines but their mom — a former graphic design artist-was disappointed in the images  in products they found to use.

Finally, in 2002, the family used their talents to start Home School in the Woods.  They began with timeline products and have grown to offer many more products to help history come alive  for you and your family. The Schoolhouse Review Crew was given an opportunity to try out three of the Homeschool in the Woods products.

Hands-On History Activity Paks — Composers includes six detailed projects to help you get to know over 40 composers, including:

Vivaldi

Beethoven

Handel

Mozart

Gershwin

The six activities include an orchestra seating chart from the 4 different periods, music history timelines, composer matching cards, and much more.

This Composers pack is designed for students in grades 3-8. It can be purchased as a download for $18.95 or CD for $19.95.

Using over 35 projects and activities, Great Empires Activity Study covers a total of 14 Ancient and Modern Empires beginning with Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Ancient China and ends with the Russian Empire and the United States of America.

This interactive study includes art projects, recipes, reading, a timeline and much more!

Great Empires Activity Study is designed for all levels of Elementary students and retails for $18.95 download or $19.95 CD.

The 20th Century in America Hands-On History Lap-Pak is a hands-on History Lap-Pak is designed for students in grades 3-8.  This pack guides students through some of the most important moments in the 20th Century, while helping them to create a beautiful lapbook that contains over 20 different activities!

Some of the events highlighted in this pack are:

World Wars

Political Events

Modern Missionaries

The Stock Market crash of 1929

The Space Race and more!

The 20th Century in America Hands-On History Lap-Pak  is available as a download for $21.95 or CD for $22.95.

Whether teaching writing skills to a high school student or reviewing existing skills, the process of teaching writing skills can be daunting.  Sharon Watson, a veteran homeschooling mom, co-op teacher, and literary workshop facilitator, has taken the dread out of polishing up those writing skills.  Schoolhouse Review Crew members have had the opportunity to use and review two of Sharon’s premium curriculum items:  The Power in Your Hands:  Writing Non-Fiction in High School and Writing Fiction in High School.  Through the Writing with Sharon Watson curriculum, students find a conversational-style instruction that turns writing from a subject of dread to a subject of delight.

The Power in Your Hands:  Writing Non-Fiction in High School  is “the natural next step for those who value college-preparatory material presented in incremental steps with a conversational tone. With over 100 daily lessons and complete instructions for 22 essays and reports, this is an engaging course students will enjoy–or not dread.”  Students are given the tools they need to succeed not only in high school writing but also in college writing. They are guided through writing five different persuasive type essays, a comparison and contrast essay, a biography, a literary analysis, a research paper with documentation, descriptive essays, and narrative essays. There are over 400 pages of instruction and activities in the student workbook.  The teacher’s guide gives parents the answers to all of the questions in the student workbook and samples of numerous papers to help them evaluate their student’s writings.  The student workbook retails for $39.98 and the teacher’s guide retails for $14.98. 

     Writing Fiction in High School is written in the same conversational-style as Watson’s non-fiction curriculum.  It is designed to help teens who love to write stories and want to influence the world as Christians learn to be more powerful and effective writers.  Student’s learn about and have the opportunity to practice with the various literary elements involved in story telling and experience critiquing their own stories and stories of others.  There is even a manuscript tract for students who have already written a short story or novel manuscript to be able to edit and improve on that existing work.  The student workbook, containing over 300 pages of instructional text and activities, is available for $25.05; and the, teacher’s guide is available for $19.95.

To read what our illustrious crew members have to say about their experience with Writing with Sharon Watson, click on the linky below.

Homeschooling with toddlers and preschoolers in the house can be challenging, to say the least! Coming up with creative ways to keep them occupied, engaged, and out of trouble can test the patience right out of the best of us. Dr. Craft’s Active Play understands this challenge and has designed Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children with your youngsters in mind.

This spiral bound book and award-winning DVD set contains 52 age appropriate physical activities that are:

• created for toddlers and preschoolers to play together
• easy to lead, fun to do
• inexpensive, using easy-to-get equipment
• designed for children to develop fundamental movement skills and
  physical fitness
• inclusive of children with special needs

According to the National Association of Sport and Physical Education, preschool children need, at a minimum, 60 minutes of structured physical activity every single day. They also need 60 minutes of unstructured physical activity every day. In addition to this, they say children should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping. If you have a preschooler in the house, this explains a lot – they are ALWAYS on the move!

To help you plan how to meet these recommended physical needs of your child, check out Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children from Dr. Craft’s Active Play. The program costs $39 for both the book and DVD together plus shipping and handling. And be sure to check out what our Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about it here:

A big thank you to Megan of Half-Pint House for writing this introductory post.

Progeny Press was begun in 1992 when homeschoolers Michael & Rebecca Gilleland were unable to find any classic literature studies from a Christian worldview.  Fast forward over twenty years and this family-owned, family-operated business  now has over 100 such study guides–each still reviewed and edited by the Gillelands to make sure it adheres to their high standards of literary analysis and biblical application.

Each guide begins with a synopsis of the book, a brief biography of the author; and suggested pre-reading  activities.  The book being studied is divided into reading sections and for each section the guide has vocabulary exercises; comprehension, analysis, and application questions; and discussion questions of related Biblical themes.  Finally, there is a complete answer key.

In order to properly work through a Progeny Press Study Guide, a student will need access to a dictionary, a thesaurus, a Bible (NIV is used in the guide) and may benefit from Internet access or a set of encyclopedias.  The guides are available as printed booklets or PDF files on CD-ROM or instant downloads.  The new “Interactive” PDF format allows the student to type their answers into assigned fields on the computer screen.

Progeny Press organizes its catalog into four age groups: Lower Elementary (1-3), Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle School (5-8), and High School (9-12).  For convenience, you may purchase both the study guides and the  books on which they’re based on the website.

Members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew received one or more of the following:

Elementary:

Hall of Doors: The Dragon’s Hoard Study Guide and paperback copy of Hall of Doors: The Dragon’s Hoard book by  Rebecca Gilleland.

Middle School:

Eagle of the Ninth Study Guide ($16.99)   The novel is by Rosemary Sutcliff and takes place in Roman occupied Britain in 125 A.D.

The Golden Goblet Study Guide ($16.99) The novel is by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and takes place in Ancient Egypt.

Treasure Island Study Guide (16.99)  The novel is by Robert Louis Stevenson.  The setting is 18th century England and an Island of undisclosed location.

High School:

Beowulf Study Guide ($18.99)    The Guide is based on the Seamus Heaney translation of the Epic poem set in 6th century Scandinavia.

The Hobbit Study Guide ($18.99)  The novel is by J.R.R. Tolkien and takes places in mythical Middle Earth.

Things Fall Apart Study Guide ( $18.99) The novel is by Chinua Achebe and the setting is Colonial Africa in the 1800’s.

Progeny Press recommends  working through one guide page per day, making each study last 8-12 weeks (Lower Elementary titles may be shorter).  For transcript purposes, a High School level guide can be recorded as 1/4 credit hour.

Leadership Garden Legacy was created by Debra Slover, out of her passionate desire to grow the leader in all of us. A “Leadership Garden” is a “fun metaphor for growing leadership”, much like you would grow plants and vegetables in your own garden. Leadership Garden Legacy has resources for individual, family, school, community and business leadership. For this review, crew members got to sample the U.N.I.Q.U.E Kids: Growing My Leadership Garden Program and U.N.I.Q.U.E:Growing the Leader Within.

U.N.I.Q.U.E Kids is a leadership development book written for kids ages 8-12. The colorful book tells the story of a sheep named Hugh who has spent time lost and wandering due to negative experiences that resulted in low self-esteem. Hugh wanders into the Leadership Garden and meets the farmers and animals who help him learn how to grow and tend his Leadership Garden. In addition to the book, which has discussion questions after each chapter, you can use the U.N.I.Q.U.E Kids Activity Guide and Journal to go along with it. This guide includes other activities to help children understand and apply the lessons of the book. You can also purchase an MP3 audio download of the book as well. The U.N.I.Q.U.E. Kids book costs $18.95, the PDF download of the activity guide costs $8.95, and the MP3 audio download is $8.95 as well.

The U.N.I.Q.U.E. Growing the Leader Within book is to be used with adults or older students. It still tells the story of Hugh and his experience in the Leadership Garden, but it is not in color, and it includes commentary and reflections from the author about her own personal experiences with leadership. There are activities at the end of the chapter to apply and think about. The Leadership Garden Guidebook is meant to accompany this book and includes step by step exercises you can use to cultivate leadership in your own life, or that of your older student. This book also includes an MP3 audio download. The Growing the Leader Within paperback costs $18.95, the guidebook also costs $18.95, and the MP3 download is $14.95.

Leadership Garden Legacy is offering the TOS Community a “Spring Special Discount” of 20% on all their Empowerment Tools. This is in addition to their already discounted Tool Kit bundles.

To receive your discount, enter the discount code: TOS-SS20D upon checkout. This is a limited time offer and the code will expire on May 31, 2013.

Preview the bundled Tool Kit Discount options at:
http://www.leadershipgardenlegacy.com/catalog/tool-bundle
Preview all product tools at:
http://www.leadershipgardenlegacy.com/store
Visit the Leadership Garden Legacy to learn more at:
http://www.leadershipgardenlegacy.com

With the bundle price of the Family Empowerment Tool Kit and the TOS extra 20% discount this is a $28.70 TOS savings off the retail price of the products.