Scaredy Cat Reading System-Review

For the last few weeks we have been using Level One of Scaredy Cat Reading from Joyce Herzog.  We received a full set including the Teacher's manual, Student workbook, Student Reader, The Story of the LetterMaster, Song CD and a Fun Pack. Scaredy Cat Reading is not only phonics based, it is mastery based as well.

Level One of Scaredy Cat Reading familiarizes students with the alphabet and teaches them the sounds the letters make. The Teacher's Manual is a wonderful resource for the parent of any young child.  I cannot begin to tell you the number of ideas that are included in this book.  It is a 45-page spiral bound which includes an introduction, the rules of the Scaredy Cat Reading System (which are not taught to the students in level one), specifics of the program for pre-readers and other general information you need to know.  

The book then describes the three steps of Scaredy Cat Reading level one.

Step One: learn the alphabet

Step Two: learn the names of each letter and recognize it in many different fonts

Step Three: learning the primary sounds of each of the consistent consonants and learning "who" the vowels are

Next you will find a page on Reading Aloud, Games to Play with Letters, Progress Tracking Sheets, Handwriting Hints and several pages you can copy for handwriting practice.

Finally, the remainder of the book is packed with ideas for teaching the letters and their sounds. She has a cute idea of having different styles of days depending on how much time you have or how much you want to work on this in a day.  There are appetizer days to whet your child's appetite, main course days where you spend more time with the child on specific activities, salad days and dessert days are also on the "menu". 

The Story of LetterMaster; Who Gave the Letters their Jobs is a 31 page comic book style story of how each letter was assigned its sound or sounds.  The story is also found on the audio CD.  Unfortunately, this did not really hold the attention of my children (and I can't say I loved it either.)  I'm not one for a comic book to begin with and we just didn't care for the story.

The LetterMaster comic and one of the reproducible handwriting pages

The ABC Reader is available in a secular and a Christian version.  I was sent the secular version.  It contains the lyrics to an ABC song that is different from the "next time won't you sing with me" version we are all familiar with.  This is to prevent children learning "elliminnowpee".  There are two versions of this song.  The one in the book has secular words, the one on the audio CD is the Christian version.

Sadie with the ABC reader

The ABC reader starts out with many pages of the alphabet written in different type fonts and styles.  Capital and Lower case letters are both learned.  There is also a page of the letters in sign language.  Other pages include a pictorial primer, a list of animal names by letter and given names by letter.  It also includes all of the lyrics to the songs.

a worksheet from the student workbook

The Student Workbook has 143 pages.  Step One of the book has 18 pages where students match letters and learning the alphabet.  The final page of this section has students do a dot-to-dot of the alphabet in alphabetical order.  In Step Two students learn the letter names on pages like the one shown above.  There are 53 pages in this section.  Step Three teaches children the letter sounds.  Letters are taught individually in groups.  The First Letter names are taught first.  These are the letters that say their name first like B and D.    There are a couple of pages for each letter which include a page of pictures where the child circles words that begin with the letters and and/or cross out ones that do not followed by a page of letter activities.  For example, for the letter T some suggestions are to touch your toes ten times, listen to a tuba or a trombone, and taste tea by the teaspoon with your tongue.  Lots and lots of ideas for each letter.  The final pages are by the different groups of letters (first name consonants, last name consonants, hard working consonants and vowels).

The Audio CD begins with a reading of the LetterMaster which takes about 25 minutes, followed by a variety of simple songs sung acapella.  Most are more like jingles or rhymes than songs and I don't find them all that catchy.  The kids don't enjoy listening to it.

The Fun Pack comes on light cardstock so I laminated most of it. There are Bingo cards, and Alphabet Spinner, cards for uppercase and lowercase letters, letter pieces to put together to build letters and cards with pictures to match sounds with.  There are some magnet sheets as well with letters and pictures for learning and reviewing concepts.

 A few of the games and activities from the Fun Pack

I have mainly focused on using this with 5 year old Ellie.  She loves the fun activities and the workbook.  She often asks to do it and for that I am thankful.  We try to do some part of Scaredy Cat reading each day. We don't always manage to fit it in, but I really like that she enjoys it and is learning.  My 3 year old also likes to join in and sometimes even the older kids will as well.  (Especially if we play BINGO and Skittles are involved! Forgot to take pictures of that.)

Ellie playing a matching letter game.

Ellie loves learning her letters. She put them all in order herself.

I plan to use a lot of this program with my 3 year old when she turns 4 in September.  I think it will be fun for her to have her own "school" to do next year.   While we do like this, I don't think we will purchase future levels.

My favorite part of this curriculum is the flexibility and the wonderful ideas (and fun pack) to really help children learn pre-reading skills.  If you are looking for something to teach your child reading in a fun way, I do think this is worth taking a look at.

There are 4 levels of Scaredy Cat Reading.  You can have your child take a free placement test to determine which level you need. There is also a page of free downloads.

The crew is reviewing a wide variety of books and curriculum from Joyce Herzog including: Scaredy Cat Reading System Level 2, Scaredy Cat Reading System Level 3, Scaredy Cat Reading System Express, Learning in Spite of Labels (A great book!  I have this.), Timeless Teaching Tips,  Choosing & Using Curriculum Set, Luke's Life List, Luke's School List, Stepping Stones to Praise and Worship,  Stepping Stones to Bigger Faith For Little People, Budding Authors, 6 Weeks to Understanding Grammar, Bible Quotes and Educational Dice Bag.  Lots of fun stuff to read about!

Here is a video from author Dr. Herzog about the Scaredy Cat Reading System:

Scaredy Cat Reading System level 1 is available for $75.00.  Additional student workbooks are $30.

Author Dr. Joyce Herzog is well known in the homeschooling community.  She taught learning disabled students for 25 years in public and private schools and has written many books and curriculum for homeschoolers.  Read more about her.

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

The 20th Century in America-Lap-Pak Review

Home School in the Woods has provided me with the downloadable 20th Century in America-Lap-Pak suggested for grades 3-8.  Emma (grade 4) and I have spent the last six weeks or so working on this study.  Though not part of this review, we have also used History through the Ages Timeline Figures, Time Travelers: The Early 19th Century and most recently I purchased Composers. I have been very impressed with all of the above.

The Lap-Pak consists of 22 projects to be completed and made into a lapbook.  It covers everything from wars/conflicts, food, fashion, sports, presidents, disasters and so much more.  These are the most professionally done lapbooks I have ever used.  Every project is of excellent quality.

20th Century in America-Lap-Pak is available on CD or as a download.  I decided to print out the entire study before we started.  It was a lot of printing, but I like to have everything at my fingertips ready to go at a moment's notice.  To complete this project you will need white printer paper, colored paper and cardstock.  There are some other items you will need as well such as scissors (lots of cutting), an exacto knife, colored pencils, a variety of adhesives and a few other supplies.

 Everything is detailed for you in the introduction so you will know what you need including detailed directions for how to put each project together along with diagrams and directions for assembling the lap-pack as well.  Except for one of the projects, I didn't have to reprint anything....even the two sided projects which usually seem so confusing to me.

This is the booklet. I am amazed that I was able to easily print
 this booklet on both sides of the paper without an issue.  

I decided that rather than do each project in order as they are listed in the booklet we would use the timeline and work through the century chronologically.  Though we are enjoying studying this way, I think it might have been a better idea to just work our way through the book since we started this so late in the school year (chronologically would have worked better if we were spending a year or an entire semester on this.)  However, this is actually one of the things I love about this lap-pack.  You can make it what YOU want it and have it be as in depth or as "light" as you and/or your children want it to be.

I love this timeline book. You can pull the end out from the flap and
pull out the entire timeline as one long  piece.  It then folds back up easily.
The white squares can be colored by your student (or not) and added to the timeline.
The cover of the booklet is shown above the timeline.

A suggested resource list (mostly books) is also included.  We have taken some of the suggested books out of the library and also just took books out that we found on the topics I chose from the timeline.

As I mentioned there are 22 projects to complete.  They cover World Wars and other conflicts, political events, movements that made a mark in history, missionaries, disasters, architecture, music, art, authors and literature  food, fashion and much more.

What we have done is worked on projects as we have read the printed booklet as well as LOTS of books we have taken out of the library from The Wizard of Oz to books about Admiral Peary (I'd never heard of him before), George Washington Carver, The Wright Brothers, The Titanic, The Lusitania....and lots more.

I thought I'd include some pictures of some of the projects. Some of the projects the students write and draw on and others are just put together.  I will show samples of both types.

World Wars:

This is the first project covering WWI, WWII and the Cold War.
Each flap lifts up for the student to write something about each war.

Disasters:

This project has tabs the open on either side to reveal information about each disaster.

People of Interest:

This is a fun project.  Each card is lined on one side for the student to write on and the other side
has a space for a drawing.  The cards fit into a TV holder.  

Transportation:

This project tells about transportation by land, sea and sky.
You can pull the strip out  to read about each.
Extra strips are included for students to make their own.

Slang Terminology:

Cards with slang from each decade (the decade and meaning of each phrase is on the opposite side).
You also have the option of printing them on separate cards to make a matching game.

Medical Advancements:

The plunger on this "syringe" moves up and down.
As it moves, you can read about different medical advances in the window.
Both sides of the plunger have advances printed on them.

Here are a few more of the projects.  I LOVE the record player.  You can spin the record
and little windows reveal the different types of music from the decades.  The
project standing in the back is Fashion Through the Decades.  I love this one.  It even has acetate windows!
There is a menu, space exploration, authors and literature, sports figures and missionaries

We are not even close to being finished with this study, but I can't wait to see it all put together.  You can view completed samples on the webpage.  I highly recommend this study for anyone who enjoys learning history and doing projects.  I happen to love cutting, pasting, coloring etc so this has been a lot of fun.  We're really enjoying learning and the completed lap-pack will serve as a wonderful reminder of everything that we have learned.  You would probably not like this lap-pack if you don't enjoy projects and/or like lesson plans all laid out for you.


You can purchase The 20th Century in America-Lap-Pak for $21.95 (downloadable) or $22.95(CD).

See what others are saying about Homeschool in the Woods  on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.




Three different titles are being reviewed; The 20th Century in America-Lap-Pak, The Composer Activity Pak and The Great Empires Activity Pak.

Progeny Press-The Hobbit-Review

This is the second time Progeny Press has supplied me with a study guide to review.  This year we got The Hobbit.  Katie, my 10th grader, has been working on this.  She is a lover of all things Lord of the Rings so this was a perfect study for her.

While you can order the study guide in a printed format or on CD we received the instant download version which is what I will be referring to.

The Hobbit study guide is a 62 page interactive pdf.  It also comes with an 8 page answer key, also on pdf. Each study guide can be counted for a 1/4 credit for a high school student. Students are able to type in answers or click for multiple choice questions.

Katie does her study each day on her computer and at the end of the week she e-mails it to me for correcting.  I love that we can do that electronically AND that we have the option to print the study and do it that way as well if we want to.  I find it easier to correct and go over with her by printing it so that is what I've done.

The suggested pace of this study is 1 section per week, but Katie has been completing more than this (because she wanted to).  It should take a typical student about 8-10 weeks to complete any of the high school studies. This seems like a good pace to me.

The guide begins with a how to use section for the teacher/parent, a synopsis of the story, a page about the author and pre-reading ideas including some map work, nature study and a music project.

Next is the actual study guide which covers a lot of vocabulary along with parts of speech and literary topics such as characterization, metaphors, epithets, similes, setting, synonyms, antonyms, parallelism, irony and more. Next you will find Questions about the Story, a Thinking About It section where various topics are explored and finally the last section in each chapter is called Digging Deeper; This section covers biblical principles relating the story to real life.

Here is a screen shot clip of a vocab/parts of speech question:

Not all of the vocabulary in the study is multiple choice. This is just one example.

And a clip of one of the Dig Deeper questions:

One of the really neat things about a pdf study guide is that I can make comments on Katie's work and e-mail it back to her.  It really makes doing this completely on the computer not only possible but kind of fun too.  (Of course I am not doing it this way, but I like that I could.)

Here is a screen shot of a sample comment:

You will also find projects and writing projects to be completed at the end of the study (and some within the study as well) and a list of additional resources (books and videos) that could be used.  An 8-page answer key also comes with the study.  I like how they condense the answer key down to just a few pages so I don't have to use a lot of ink and paper printing it (I could just use it on the screen, but again, I prefer to have it on paper in front of me.)

I like how so many different things are combined into one study.  Literary analysis, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and Biblical instruction all rolled into one convenient, affordable download.  I also like the variety of multiple choice, fill in the blanks AND lots of questions that require thought and writing out (or typing as the case may be) the answers.

I also love that we will be able to use these for years to come with other children, making Progeny Press study guides perfect for large families like mine.  As mentioned in my previous review of 2 other Progeny Press Study Guides, we plan to use more of these in the future.

 The Hobbit Study Guide is available in 3 formats:

$21.99 Printed Booklet
$18.99 CD
$18.99 Instant Download

Progeny Press has study guides for many titles for all ages. Each guide concentrates on critical thinking, comprehension, literary analysis, and Christian application.  Visit the FAQ page if you have questions (or feel free to ask in the comments and I'll answer if I can!) You read more about Progeny Press, its founders and their mission and faith statements as well.

Read what others are saying about Progeny Press on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. I am looking forward to reading the reviews of the other titles crew members are doing.

Review: A Journey Through Learning

Do you enjoy lapbooking?  Have you ever even heard of lapbooking?  I discovered it many years ago and I've always thought it was a great way to learn.  A Journey Through Learning offers a multitude of lapbooks that you can use with your students.  I was given 4 lapbooks for this review and expected to complete just one, but we've actually finished two so I will share both.  We did Letters, Numbers and Shapes ,which is for ages 3-5 and The Earth, for grades 1-4.

A Journey Through Learning was created by two homeschooling moms, Nancy and Paula.  Take a moment to read their touching story.  If you are not familiar with lapbooking you may wish to watch these how to videos.

Letters, Numbers and Shapes is a 51 page pdf document with printable mini-books and activities to do with your younger children.  There are several booklets for tracing letters on the outside then copying the same letter under a flap on the inside, there is an ice cream cone triangle book, a firetruck rectangle book, number writing, a one-to-one correspondence activity with cards for matching numbers to objects, a booklet for matching capital and lowercase letters and more.

covers of the lapbooks Ellie and Connor made

You could choose to complete a booklet each day and have enough for about 4 school weeks.  We chose to just keep working on several books at a time and had this completed in about a week.  The end of the e-book contains 9 pages of finger plays, letter activities, poems, things to do with letters, learning about shapes with food.  There are lots of fun ideas in here to keep you busy for much longer.

a completed lapbook with the idea sheets that are also included

Connor matching capital and lowercase letters

cards to math numbers with objects

One of the things I really love about A Journey Through Learning is they provide you with an exact placement guide for each booklet in your lapbook.  You don't have to try to figure out what fits where! 

Here is a clip of part of the placement guide for this lapbook:

Add caption

The Earth lapbook is designed for your first to fourth grader.  It is an excellent introduction to Earth Science or would make a great go along for whatever Earth Science curriculum you are using.

The Earth is a 42 page e-book with directions for completing the lapbook, then each lapbook mini-book is accompanied by a page of text. No outside sources are needed to complete the lapbook.  There are 14 mini-books, a book list along with some songs, poems and crafts are included as well. 

The cover of Emma's lapbook

This is the cover of a layers of the earth booklet

and the inside of the same booklet

Part of the completed lapbook shown with the placement diagram that is included.

The Earth lapbook covers layers of the earth, types of rocks, landforms, seasons, mountains, volcanoes and more.

One thing I wanted to mention is that in the poem section there is a poem by Jane Yolen called Earth Day that starts out, "I am the earth, the earth is me." It's a little pantheistic for me, but it's not really a part of the study and you certainly wouldn't have to read it.  This would not prevent me from purchasing the study, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Overall, we had a good time with these lapbooks and will likely complete more in the future.  These lapbooks are especially fun for kids who enjoy crafts and making projects.

You can purchase Letters, Numbers and Shapes for $13 (as a download...see the link for more options) and The Earth is also available for $13 as a download and $21 printed.

A Journey Through Learning offers lapbooks to go along with Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia Titles, Classical Conversations and many more! They also have Express Lapbooks for only $1!

See what others are saying about A Journey Through Learning on the crew blog.

A+ Interactive Math

For the last several weeks we have been using the 4th grade version of A+ Interactive Math by A+ Tutorsoft, Inc. This is an interactive online math program that is also available on CD.

A+ Interactive Math is a comprehensive math program with audio and visual teaching but also has a printable textbook option. (I love options.)  We tried out both. Emma logs on and watches a video lesson which is then followed by an Interactive Question and Answer session.   If she enters her answers on the computer there is an automatic grading system which I can check at any time by logging into the parent section of the account.  If done on paper, I can correct it and add the scores manually.  The automatic scores and manual scores are found on separate pages.  I would prefer for them to be integrated, but it is easy enough to keep track of scores using what is available.

This is a screen shot of a lesson in action.
The chapters and lessons are found on the left and can be opened with a click of the mouse.
The audio/visual lesson can be played, paused, stopped etc. at the bottom of the screen.
Students can click on the Interactive Q & A button at any time to practice what they are learning.

As mentioned in the caption above, there is an interactive question and answer button that can be clicked during the lesson (preferably after they have actually watched the lesson) that contains multiple choice questions.  Students are required to see/hear ALL of the choices before being allowed to select one. This can be frustrating to the student if they know the answer and they have to wait for all of the other answers to be read.   If the student chooses the wrong answer they will see a sad face with a thumbs down and be told the answer is incorrect. Immediately after that they are shown the correct answer and given a full explanation.   Correct answers get a thumbs up, a verbal affirmation and smiley face. (Explanations are also available for correct answers.)  I like the immediate feedback.


Once the lesson has been completed the student can move on to doing a worksheet.  Multiple choice worksheets can be printed or completed right on the computer.

The 4th grade program has 16 chapters:

1. Number Sense Review

2. Addition

3. Subtraction

4. Multiplication

5. Division

6. Decimals

7. Fractions and Fraction Operations

8. Number Conversions and Mixed Fractions Operations

9. The Number Line and Number Comparisons

10. Algebra

11. Geometry

12. Time and Money

13. Measurements and Conversions

14. Probability

15. Displaying Data Using Graphs

16. Word Problems and Problem Solving

In the parent section of the program, there is a 32 week lesson plan available.  As you can see below, each week there is a suggested list of lessons, worksheets, tests etc. to cover.  There is a white box at the end of each section but no way to check it off.  It can be printed, but with the dark background I didn't want to use all that ink.  We chose not to use the suggested outline.  I let Emma work at her own pace. The lessons take a little longer than we are used to but, I think this is probably more appropriate for her age level (even if she doesn't think so!) The suggested outline would be handy for those that want to follow a prescribed schedule.

clip of the lesson plans

Through my parent account, I am able to view the scores for the worksheets and exams Emma has completed. 

clip of worksheet report

A nice summary is also available for viewing.  All of these reports can be printed for your records.

I would love to see e-mail reports that could be sent to me on a weekly basis.

A+ Interactive Math also offers a 9-page color reference sheet to be printed for the student.  (very handy), a printable curriculum book, and printable answer keys for tests and worksheets. Parents also can control whether or not their student can access the answers to the problems.

As I said earlier, I like options.  Emma has used both the printable tests and worksheets and the online version.  I like being able to let her just go on the computer to do her math without my help, but I also like being able to print work for her so we can take it with us when we are on the go which we have done.  One of my favorite parts of this program is that we can choose the way we want to do this and it can be some of both. We don't have to choose just one way.

Here is a clip of a worksheet from an addition lesson:

One thing I would like to see is a larger font and more room for doing work on the printable worksheets.  I don't think it should be necessary to copy each problem in order to work it which really is necessary for younger children that don't write this small.

Here is an overview video.  The narrator of this video is the same teacher in the program.

Overall, I am very happy with this program for Emma.We plan to continue using A+ Interactive Math in place of what we were using prior to receiving this.

I would recommend trying A+ Interactive Math with their free one month trial subscription that you can sign up for at the A+ Tutorsoft website (top right corner...try the online version or download the CD version).

A+ Tutorsoft offers interactive math for Grades 1-6 as well as Pre-Algebra and Algebra.

The regular price for a subscription to A+ Interactive Math is $19.95 (monthly), $49.99 (quarterly), or a full year for $124.99  However, until the end of MARCH you can use coupon code: SPOFFER50 for 50% OFF!

 See what others are saying about A+ Interactive Math on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. (Online and CD versions are both being reviewed.)