Jean Welles Worship Guitar ~TOS Crew Review

When Jean Welles Worship Guitar Class Volume One Book and DVD came in the mail, I thought, "This is not going to be an easy review!" You see, I am 'musically challenged' and I do not know anything about teaching it! This product scared me and I did not open it right away. Once I worked up my courage...I was pleasantly surprised to find both the book and the DVD to be easy & fun to use! My son has wanted to learn guitar, so we watched the DVD together and he amazed me with the skills he quickly picked up. I learned some things as well and it greatly lessened my 'music phobia'. One thing that I love most about the program is Jean Welles desire for you to learn music as a way to worship God!

The Worship Guitar Class for Kids Volume One includes the following lesson topics: Tuning, Parts of the Guitar, Rhythm Patterns, How to read Chord Patterns, and eight songs learned over nine weekly lessons. Even the very first lesson teaches a song! There are additional practice sessions for the introduction and all 7 lessons with further clarification including helpful information such as singing on key.

You can view an introduction to the course on the website. There are over 80 products available for sale on her site.

DVD Volume 1 + Book 1 - $29.95. OR the complete 4 book/DVD series is available for $119.80. What a bargain...have you priced private guitar lessons in your area? This is a GREAT deal!

She also has a class designed for kids! You can see more reviews, by some of the other TOS Crew members, HERE!



I received this product for free in exchange for my review as a member of the Crew. No further compensation was received and I offer my honest opinion.

1st Snow ~2010!

SNOW DAY!! What a wonderful way to start the new year! It started snowing late Saturday night [Jan. 2] and has continued (on-and-off) through today...and more is on it's way! I was going to start back to school today, but I was looking for an excuse to 'ease back in' and I found it. :) Katelyn's [public school] friend spent the night last night, since schools are out, and this morning she asked if she could do school with us, so we did some stuff. It was fun!

Happy New Year!

Be JOYful, Kristi

Maestro Classics ~ TOS Review

The Tortoise and the Hare..a favorite Aesop classic with a fun musical surprise!

As part of the Homeschool Crew, I received a free copy of The Tortoise and the Hare by Maestro Classics to review. The CD features the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and is narrated by Yadu, a.k.a. Dr. Konrad Czynski.

This came in the mail the day before we were leaving on a weekend trip, so we listened to it in the car and everyone [including Mr. Pool] loved it! So much so, that I ordered 3 more titles [The Story of Swan Lake, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, & Peter and the Wolf] to put in the kid's stockings, which the kids were delighted to receive!

Maestro Classics does an incredible job of blending beautiful music with great stories. Each CD includes a booklet packed with information about the conductor & the story. The Tortoise and the Hare booklet taught us lots of information about

• instruments in an orchestra
• whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and rests
• measures
• time signatures
• the difference between a tortoise/turtle and a rabbit/hare

Overall, we found this CD to be delightful!

The CD cost $16.98.

Visit the website where you can listen to samples and take advantage of a super special ~3 CDs for $45.00 [coupon code MAESTRO45].

To read more reviews of Maestro Classics, visit the Homeschool Crew Blog.

Happy Halloween~ 2009!

Here are a few pics from Halloween. We went 'trick-or-treating' at Daddy's office. Katelyn was with a friend and I did not get a pic of her. Cason was Darth Vader (again!). The little girls and I were dressed in our '50's Outfits'...Chloe was our little poodle. When Katelyn was 5, I made she and I matching poodle skirts to wear for Halloween that year. Now Carrie is 5, so I pulled out my poodle skirt, but I could not find the one I made for Katelyn. :( A few weeks ago, I found one at a resell shop AND I also found the cute little poodle costume for Chloe!

ABC Teach ~TOS Crew Review

When I was given the opportunity to review a membership to ABC Teach, I must admit that I was not thrilled. Why, you ask? Well, I *thought* ABC Teach was a website that only offered a bunch of worksheets and I'm not a worksheet fan, so I just did not think it would have anything I needed. BUT, boy was I wrong! I'm SO thankful I was given the opportunity to review the membership and to experience all the incredible items ABC Teach has to offer!

The membership site has over 35,000 items! The materials are for PK-8th grade. The website is organized well and it has a Directory to help you find items [I'm still finding neat things daily!]. Okay, so if I do not like worksheets what does this site offer? It does have LOTS of worksheets (on every subject imaginable), but it also offers hands-on materials that I can use in our workboxes. Here are some of my favorites:

1. File Folder Games! Over 1000 print-and-make games to reinforce learning.
   
2. Art Lessons based on famous artists work [Van Gogh, O'Keefe, Picasso, Seurat, Monet, & more].
   
3. Book Units [vocabulary & reading comprehension activities] for the American Girl books! & many other books like Charlotte's Web, Flat Stanley, The Door In the Wall, Peter Pan, Treasure Island...lots!
4. Lots of Pre-K items: Letter Posters, patterns, booklets, cut-and-paste, etc....
   
5. Science Experiments/Investigations...perfect for my science center!
6. Mini Offices [see picture below] are SO neat!

ABC Teach graciously gave me a six-week free trial to their membership site and it has been a treat! In fact I loved it so much, I bought a yearly membership to keep my account active. The membership is $40/year. AND you can get 50% off HERE...yes a whole year for only $20! It is well worth it!

To read more reviews on this terrific site, go see what my crew mates had to say on the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.

Pumpkin Patch fieldtrip!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Field Trip!...B-17G Flying Fortress

My hubby found out that the Flying Fortress, a B-17 Bomber, was making a stop at our local Flight Museum, so last Tuesday, October 27th , we went to tour it! The B-17 changed history in WW II when 1000's flew, but now there are only about 100 left and only 4 that can still fly!
From the website:

Between 1935 and May of 1945, 12,732 B-17s were produced.
Of these aircraft, 4,735 were lost during combat missions.

We climbed up into the plane and explored it. It was very neat and exciting. We have not studied this area in history yet, but won't it be super when we do to remind the kids of this experience! The kids loved it, especially our boy!

They might be coming to your area...check out the tour schedule HERE! You can even fly on the fortress for $399/person...that was not in our budget, but the tour itself was only $15/family and well worth it! :)

Here are the *COOL* pics: