TOS Crew Review: The Schoolhouse Planner-Travel the World!--June 2010 Module E-book

I am going to be reviewing products for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine this school year, and I just received my first product to review which is The 2009 Schoolhouse Planner -- Travel the World! Module (June 2010 Issue) e-book. It can be purchased individually or as part of a group of modules (a 12 Pack bundle). These e-books can be added to the Old Schoolhouse planner, or used as stand alone material. Cost is $83.95 for a 12 pack (click here) or $7.95 for a single issue like this one (click here). It is geared for K-high school, and as homeschoolers we can adapt anything to meet our needs! It starts out pretty basic, but then has some extension activities for older ages that are more challenging. It is 56 pages of helpful geography information!!

I have been homeschooling for 15 years, so I pretty much know what I like within a few minutes of looking through it. I really like this product!! It has such an easy, conversational style that is fun to read. It starts out with basic geography information, then moves into continents where things are more in depth. I appreciate the Bible verses that are included--a very nice touch. There are vocabulary words and concepts in blue that you can click on within the text to get more information. That is very helpful to my children as they go through the geography lessons. I also like the hyperlinks for other activities--there are a lot of them, at different levels, and they are very good resources. My middle school age girls had fun with them. My younger sons had fun looking over their shoulders.

I like the extra activities that are included. There are games, like a word search, a crossword puzzle, and rebus puzzles that are fun for the younger kids. (and even the older ones, although they probably won't admit it!) Then, to check comprehension, there is a fill-in-the-blank sheet and maps. Just to make sure the students have enough to do, there are copywork pages and lapbook activities. Wow!! There is a lot of material here! The high schoolers get a different set of activities more geared to their age, such as recipes (they looked good!!)and different activity sheets for older learners.

This is good supplemental material. It is not a full curriculum, though. My children and I had fun with it as we looked it over and tried it out. I think it is a wealth of information on geography, and would be a great addition to any homeschool curriculum. Some of my children really like the extra things, and some would rather just get their work done and not mess with it. Most of them really enjoyed playing around with this e-book. My 17 year old son, however, did not have much interest in it due to his age. That is just how he is. It's still a great product, and you can use as little or as much of this material to adapt it to your homeschool easily. And... that is what homeschool is all about, isn't it??

***Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion of it. I received no other compensation.***

Check out more reviews of this product (and lots of others) on The Old Schoolhouse blog!

New blog...same old life!!

This is my first blog post. Hmmm...I didn't start a blog because I think my life is so terribly interesting that everyone will want to read about it. I am going to review products for The Old Schoolhouse magazine, so I have to start one for that purpose. But, as long as I have a blog, I guess I may write about some other things as they come to mind. Or, if it gets crazy, I'll just review products. With our lives, you never know. But that is the sweet chaos that comes with children--lots of children. And we wouldn't change that for the world!!