For those of us who homeschool, finding things to keep our toddlers busy while we do so, is quite the challenge on a daily basis. With our situation right now, if I don’t keep my toddler, Jaden, busy, then he’s going to keep me extra busy by doing things he shouldn’t do….for example, he decided to take a red stamper to my living room the other day….oh yeah, that was fun! I believe he stamped the fireplace and pictures on it, the tv, etc. I’ve found that when I keep him busy with small learning activities, we both have a much more peaceful day.

Ideal Curriculum is a company that is geared towards younger children. They aim to help preschoolers learn oral language, math concepts, and even reading. Their products are made for the purpose of helping individual students have better opportunities for learning, meaning that you, as the parent, can slow things down if need be….or if your child is learning and a little bored, you can speed things up or jump ahead.

We received Month 1 of the Transportation Theme, which is a month-long packet of curriculum for preschoolers. With this packet, there are activities with math concepts, reading concepts, art projects, and even science and history topics.  Your child will listen to music, as well as do plenty of hands-on projects.  The following are the skills taught with this packet:

• Letters and Sounds -Letter Names
• Phonological Awareness -Listening Skills
• Concepts About Print -Print is all Around
• Sight Words -Name Recognition
• Math -Rote Counting

I’ll be honest here and say that I wasn’t able to download this packet and actually use it, so I’m by no means an expert on Ideal Curriculum.  However, you can purchase this downloadable packet for $30 or the already printed packet for $55.  From May  1st – May 31st, you can use this 10% discount code: welovekids on your first order of any of their products.  To me, the price seems a little steep, as you are supposed to keep purchasing the packets, in order, up through 9 months…..so this would add up quickly.  For my preschooler, I tend to lean towards finding free, printable, educational activities online, plus finding bargains at yard sales, such as manipulatives, wooden puzzles, etc.  If you want an easier path, though, with everything laid out for you already, this might be the way to go.  It would definitely jumpstart your preschooler’s education, in my opinion. You can sign up for the Ideal Curriculum Newsletter to stay aware of all they are doing.

To read more reviews, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

(Disclosure: I received a downloadable version of this packet, free of charge, from Ideal Curriculum….but wasn’t able to download it.  It was for the purposes of this review.)

We’ve been using the All About Spelling program for Jacob’s spelling and some of his phonics work.  We now have their second reader, What Am I?, to go along with our spelling program.  This reader follows along after the first reader and is filled with short stories that go along with Level 2, Steps 1-14 of the spelling program, to help reinforce what the child is learning.

Each story is printed in large print and is a little longer than the stories in the first reader.  The words are bigger and a bit longer, as well.  The child gets to practice the different phonograms and words he’s learning in his spelling steps for the first half of Level 2, Steps 1-14.  There are no review questions, just stories for the child to enjoy.  Here are the stories included in this reader:

1. The Bench
2. An Elf in the Alps
3. Broken Robot
4. The Bake Sale
5. Matt the Musk Ox
6. Skunk Hotel
7. Champ
8. Pine Tree Pet Shop
9. Just for You: Poems for Fun
10. What Am I?

My favorite part of the reader is the illustrations it contains.  Although they are black and white, the illustrations are beautifully drawn and have great detail to them.  They make the stories even more interesting for an imaginative mind.

You can purchase this reader, starting April 1, today, for $19.95 from All About Spelling.  You can read more reviews on the TOS Crew Homeschool Blog.

(Disclosure: I was provided this reader, free of charge, by All About Spelling, in association with the TOS Homeschool Crew.)

We’ve been using All About Spelling for Jacob’s spelling program this year, and we received the Beehive Reader 1, by Marie Rippel with Renee LaTulippe, to review.

Based on phonics, this reader is a nice addition to the All About Spelling program, especially for beginning readers.  Beautifully illustrated with black and white photos and decorative pages, it draws the reader into the stories even more, so it’s not just great practice with phonics; it’s a fun way to read beginner level stories, as well.  It is filled with pages of 1-2 sentence paragraphs, the sentences themselves being shorter.  Different sounds the child might be working on in his spelling lessons are incorporated into story form.  Phonograms, short vowel sounds, initial and final blends, the C and K sounds, consonant teams, etc., are all put into story form for your child to practice reading and using all together.  Each story varies between 10-20 pages in length, but again, the sentences on each page are shorter, so that the child isn’t overwhelmed with all of the words on the page but rather can focus on practicing the sounds in everyday language, as he reads.  Here are the stories that this reader includes:

• At the Pond
• The Nap
• At Camp
• The Pet Duck
• The Bat and King Sam
• Frank Shrank!
• Cobweb the Cat
• Ten Wishes
• Fast Fun
• Off We Go!

For Jacob, this reader was quite below his reading level; when I asked him to read close to 40 pages of it, for example, it only took him maybe 5-10 minutes, if that.  So, it was quite easy for him, as he’s in Level 2 of the All About Spelling program right now.  It is perfect for beginning readers, though, and I plan to use it with Jaden when the time gets closer.  I might even suggest using the pictures in the book to look at with your children and do a bit of picture narration with them; or they could make up their own stories based on the pictures.  This book could be versatile in that way.  You can purchase the Beehive Reader 1 for $19.95 from All About Spelling.

(Disclosure: I was provided this book, free of charge, by All About Spelling, in association with the TOS Homeschool Crew.)