Super Teacher Worksheets - Review

We got the chance for another "super" product to review!  Super Teacher Worksheets  is just what is says.....worksheets....that make you feel like a super teacher.   Ha!



Seriously.  This was a fantastic product for us.  Fantastic, I said.

So, in a nutshell, you become a member of this website for $19.95 a year - for an individual membership.  Oh and by the way, it is a calendar year, so 365 days of access. So, I will do the math for you - it ends up being like 5 cents a day!  Once you have become a member you have access to over 10,000 worksheet pages.

Magical, I tell you.

This is one of those products that is fantastic for homeschoolers and public schoolers alike.  And, really, really good for the parents of those kids.



Through this membership, you have access to worksheets from Pre-K up to grade 5 right now.  Looks like they are adding in a few things for the older kids, but, for now it is primarily for the early elementary ages.

So, I used this for V-girl (Grade 1), S-Girl, (Grade 3), and A-man (Grade 5).

I would say that I didn't primarily use these for extra school work, at home, although I did do that too.  But, what I did the most of is them for activity sheets when we were out and about at doctor's appointments and things like that.

For example, A-girl takes golf lessons (shooting for that ever elusive golf scholarship).  The place that she takes lessons gives us 50% off of ala carte menu items.  We'd had a particularly hectic and busy week, so Rainman and I decided that the kids and I all deserved a treat and would go eat lunch when A-girl went for her lessons.

So, that morning, I logged onto my Super Teacher Worksheet page and skimmed through my options.  There were word finds, crossword puzzles, coloring pages, math pages that were coloring pages that revealed a secret picture, state information pages and holiday special pages.  (Seriously, that is just a small sampling of your options).



Anyway, I logged on and picked a few things for each of the kids.  I actually think I found a few for L-girl to try too (who is in 8th grade).

I am sure when the restaurant staff saw the 6 of us troop in, in the middle of the day, on a school day, they were nervous.  It is a nice, golf course restaurant with glass glasses already waiting on the table.  But, they didn't need to be.  We sat down, we figured out what we were going to order off the menu (snuck in a little math lesson to figure out what 50% off would be of all of our choices) and I distributed the Super Teacher Worksheets that I had printed off.  And, that was that.  We were there for a total of about 2 hours and there were no problems or reasons for us to get asked to leave or anything!  Ha!

No, the kids weren't silent.  There were discussions about how to do problems, and guesses on what the secret picture would turn out to be.  Requests for a red or blue crayon.  Even a big sister reminding a little sister how to borrow when doing subtraction.  A mom helping correct a graph coordinate mistake so the picture would actually look like a sail boat and not some random thing.

And, get this, it was relaxing for me.  It was amazing.  Plus, I got a great burger for half price!

The thing with the Super Teacher Worksheets is that they are not just the usual drill the information into your head kind of worksheets with row after row of problems.  Granted, they do have those kinds too, if you want them.  But, the ones I had chosen all had a fun, interesting twist.

It is hard to explain because, in the end, they are still.....worksheets.

They were still doing extra math, or working on spelling, but,  my kids always looked forward to doing them.  Whenever I announced that I had printed some off to take with us, I was met with choruses of "Yay!"

Seriously.

How often can you say that about anything school related?  I mean, yes, we are homeschool nerds, but my children are still...children.....and school, much of the time, elicits eye rolls and groans.

Just this past week 2 of my big kids had eye doctor appointments. We all went.  Again, I am sure when the staff saw all of us troop in (and take up all but 1 chair in their waiting room) they were nervous that there was going to be damage to the waiting room by the time we left.  But, I pulled out their Super Teacher Worksheets and they worked on those.  All good.




But, I guess the Super Teacher Worksheets aren't just about fun and games either.

S-girl has been struggling with subtraction when she has to borrow.  For some reason, that has just not clicked in her brain.  So, math was ending up with tears, especially on the days where she "thought" she had gotten it right, but when we corrected it, she hadn't and she had to go back and redo everything.  So frustrating for her...and for us.

So, I logged into Super Teacher Worksheets and searched the subtraction  section for problems with borrowing (FYI - you can also find subtraction with no borrowing).  I looked for the worksheets that had something fun to them and printed those off.  She especially likes the ones that reveal a secret message or picture.  So, yes, she is doing extra work for subtraction, but it isn't entirely painful and I can see her frustration is decreasing and she is starting to "get it".

One of the other things I liked, that did require a little bit of extra effort on my part, but was totally worth it, was using the Work Sheet Generator section.....specifically the word find generator.  I could take their spelling and vocabulary words for the week, and create a word find that was personalized to them.  I could even sneak in a few words not on their list, just for fun. (Mom.....loves.....you)

Another feature that I LOVED about Super Teacher Worksheets is the fact that there are answer keys.  No, you don't always need them because they are easy enough to figure out on your own, but sometimes, your brain doesn't want to have to think,so having the option to print off answer keys is awesome!  If you don't want to waste paper, all you have to do when you print is tell your printer just to print page 1, not "All".



I don't want to bore you with explaining how all the worksheets worked or were laid out.....and really, there are too many for me to even begin covering them all.

Suffice it to say that this ended up as one of my favorite review products of all time.  Fun and practical.

The worksheets on the log in page are divided by categories, but you could also do a straight search if there was something you were looking for.  The categories in which there are worksheets are as follows:

Math
Reading  Writing
Phonics and Early Literacy
Handwriting
Grammar
Spelling Lists
Science
Social Studies
Holidays
Puzzles and Brain Teasers
Pre-K and Kindergarten
Worksheet Generator

I know.  Right?

I realize that it is a little strange to be this excited about a worksheet membership site, but it is really awesome.  We used it.....a lot.  The kids liked it.  It was fun for me to search around on the site for something I knew the kids would like.  It was fun for me to present their worksheets like they had won a prize or something.  Crazy, but true.


Take a look and see if the other TOS Reviewers loved Super Teacher Worksheets as much as we did!

Here is all their social media....stuff.....locations.  Seriously.  Go check them out.

https://www.facebook.com/superteacherworksheets
https://twitter.com/superteacherwks
https://instagram.com/superteacherworksheets/
https://www.pinterest.com/superteacherwks/




SYLVIA SUBTRACTION PROBLEMS......ABILITY TO PRINT ANSWER KEYS...OR NOT....IF YOU REMEMBER......WORD SEARCH GENERATOR - FOR SPELLING WORDS...YES, REQUIRES A LITTLE PREWORK ON MY PART BUT IT IS WORTH IT FOR THE EXTRA PRACTICE AND FUN FOR THE KIDS.

A+ Interactive Math - Review

We got the chance to try a really interesting math curriculum from A+ Interactive Math.



It was called Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan.  It is a 3 month subscription program for the test and lesson plan.



This, to me, is a completely brilliant idea for the homeschool community.  Completely brilliant. Because, yes, we homeschool parents do occasionally fear that we are missing something, or not challenging the kids enough.  But, with the fear comes confusion too, because even though we may be afraid that we are missing teaching them something.....we don't really know what it might be...or where to start.

That is why this is such a brilliant product to offer.  Feeds right into the fear, but gives us a solution too.

L-girl was the guinea pig for this one.  Lucky girl.  LOL

She started by taking the series of placement tests.  They are mini tests that cover all the major concept areas....then, based on her results, it created a lesson plan just for her.

That was one of the coolest things about A+ Interactive Math.  That is wasn't just a generic...."Hey, you are in 7th grade...this is the math you are supposed to do."  Instead, you really get a "Hey, it doesn't matter if you are really smart in this area and also slightly behind in this other area....and right in the middle on this stuff....here is the math you need to do."

Completely brilliant concept, right?

I was hoping that after L-girl took the test her results would be that we were doing awesome and that she had no true gaps in her education.   But, as I had already suspected, she did have a few gaps. Not a lot, but they were there.

But, no big deal.  No reason to panic or think I was screwing up my child's education....forever....or some other totally overly dramatic parental statement that we homeschoolers sometimes make!

Because, those results were followed up with an individual, targeted lesson plan designed to close her gaps.

So, after L-girl took her series of placement tests (about 14 mini tests on the different concepts), she just logged into her lesson plans and did her work a few times a week.

The lessons consist of a lecture type lesson with visual aides, sound effects, colors, etc..  My first, gut reaction, when I sat through a lesson on polynomials with L-girl was that I think I could have done really really well with this program back when I was learning algebra.  Again, I never know if it is my age or the fact that I am so removed from Mr. Anlauf and the paralyzing fear of my formal algebra education.  But, I get it.  Now.  I didn't back then.

A+ Interactive seemed to make things easy to tackle and broke them down into identifiable chunks of information. After the lecture lessons, you have access to worksheets so you can practice what you have learned.

I asked L-girl if she felt like this program explained things better than Rainman and I did.  She said that she didn't think so, but, noted that they did sometimes explain it different than we did.  I suppose that could be both a good thing and a bad thing.  I asked L-girl if she liked this program or felt it was different and unique.

(Where was the FOIL method when I was in algebra, hmm?  Where?!?!)

She just said, "Well, it is math.  So, I guess it isn't any different.  It just explained how I was supposed to do something.  Then I just did it.  Regular, old math."

Again, looking to drag things out of my teenage daughter.  I asked her if she liked A+ Interactive Math.

She said, "I guess. (long pause) I didn't dislike it."

So, there you have it.  A glowing recommendation from my 13 year old daughter.  She didn't dislike it!  HA!

Her indifference aside, I still say the best part of this is that it enables you to identify potential learning gaps in your student and then address them.  After that, it might just be "regular old math" to your student, but the stuff that they need covered or to spend extra time on, is what they are actually learning.  That has got to be a good thing.

If nothing else, it gave me peace of mind that I don't necessarily have when we are just winging it.  You know?


Click here for find out the top 12 reasons for doing the adaptive placement test and individualized lessons.

A+ Interactive has some free stuff available for you, even if you aren't ready to commit to a subscription.

Free Math Placement Test: 

Free Family Math Packages: 

Free Software Download:  

Free Single Grade Level: 

Free eBook: 

But, wait!  There's more!  :)

They are actually having sale right now on both their Family Math and their Adaptive Placement stuff! (50% to 71% OFF).  So, do yourself a favor and at least go check it out.

During the sale, the subscription for the Adaptive Placement Test is $29.99 for one student.  Not too shabby for a little homeschool peace of mind, right?  

See what other TOS Reviewers thought of  A+ Interactive Math.  Some of us got to try out the Family Math plan.

Star Toaster - Review

Oh, what a wonderful thing this was for us to try.  Eventually.

It is from a company called Star Toaster and the product is called Orphs of the Woodlands, which was designed with 4th through 7th graders in mind.

It is wonderful.....and.....sort of hard to explain.  But, I will do my best!



It is a book.

It is a video game.

It is an adventure.

It is a job.

It shows responsibility and accountability.

And, it even gives you a taste of parenthood.

Confused yet?

Here is how A-man explains it.

"It is sort of like Reading School, but you can do other things.  Math, language arts, history and stuff like that.  By doing this stuff, you earn gold stars.  You earn 6 gold stars after you finish one lesson.  Then, you use those gold stars to give the orphs water and food and stuff.  The orphs are little mice that are orphans that you rescue by doing projects and you give them a place to live.  Then, you go read some more and keep going back and forth.  I get to be the squirrel that saves them.  There was a bad guy that came and burned down the squirrels house with his little minions.  There was a prophecy that I (the squirrel) would be the person that would stop them and free all the orphans and help them get actual homes.  The squirrels parents threw me out the window to save me and yelled something out the window when they tossed me out.  I couldn't hear what they said and they died in the fire.  So, part of what I am doing as the squirrel is searching for the evil guy's secret lair where he keeps his minion guys.  I am not going to kill him or anything when I find him, I am just going to put him in jail....or something."


Hahahahaha!



So, do you understand yet?

Here is my interpretation/explanation of Orphs of the Woodlands for you:  You read a chapter in their on-line book.  Then, when you are done with the chapter, you can go do "jobs" to earn stars to then turn around and feed, clothe, medicate your orphans.  It is really kind of ingenius.  You work on vocabulary, reading comprehension, memory skills, math, and even sneaky school stuff like developing character and learning recipes.

Super cool, right?

That being said, we got off to a rough start.  This was designed with A-man's age and gender in mind.  I was so excited because he hasn't really embraced fiction reading the way I would like him too.  He always has bigger and better things to do than sit down and read a book...even if it was a great one.  So, yes, unfortunately, when we started the Orphs of the Woodland, I briefly turned into a nag.  I totally had to force everyone to log on.  Well, not entirely true...L-girl went on with no trouble.

But, S-girl and A-man.....moaned and groaned....complained and whined.  Every.  Single.  Time.  If I hadn't had the obligation to keep pushing on because this was a review product, I would have let them quit and that would have been a shame.  Because somewhere around the middle of Chapter 2, actually probably closer to the beginning of Chapter 3, everything changed.  Somehow it was interesting.  Somehow there was concern for the orphs and their lack of parents.

I only have one negative/drawback.  It is small and sort of petty.  But, I will admit to it anyway.  I don't like that one of their selling points is "improved standardized test scores".  I understand why it is there.  That kind of thing just bugs me because, it is just seems a little like teaching to the test.  To me, it implies that they aren't really learning....they will just do better on the test.

But, that is my only disappointment with Orphs of the Woodlands.

Take a look at a little video explanation of some of the cool things you can find whilst saving little orphaned mice.

You can get the 60 day subscription to the first book in Orphs of the Woodlands, The Treasure of High Tower for $19.99.  The good thing is that you can use the same subscription for up to 3 children, at the same time.  You also have the option to extend the subscription another month for a small fee, if your kids move slowly.....like mine did in the beginning

It took a little bit, but we all love this one now.  It isn't just one of those ones that mom thinks they should love, but, in reality, they hate.  They are interested.  They are engaged.  They have a sense of responsibility for their orphans and want to see how good of a spy they are.  All good.  Really.  You can even get a free trial, if you aren't sure.  We are excited about the second book....coming soon!

Take a look at what other TOS Reviewers thought of Orphs of the Woodlands.  I suspect that we were not alone in loving this one!

Great Parents Academy - Review

We have been trying out an on-line math program through Great Parents Academy, also known as GPA LEARN, and more specifically, the program we used was called  GPALOVEMATH.




This is an on-line resource for math stuff for grades K-5. So, we used it for all three littles.  V-girl, Kindergarten, S-Girl second grade, and A-man, 4th grade.  I will tell you a little secret, once the littles started earning their rewards, my big kids wanted in on the action too!  I will tell you more about that later!

As with most of these types of programs, you set up individual accounts for your student.  In this case, each of them had different guides or learning coaches that worked through their lessons with them.  The GPALEARN mindset is for Learn, Engage, Motivate.  But, those high-falutin' words just boil down to giving instruction, having them practice, and then quizzing them.  Sort of sounds old fashioned and simple, right?  Well, the reality is, the answer is sort of yes and no.  It is a simple approach with a very modern twist in the on-line game-like look and feel of the lessons.

GPALOVEMATH gives you a bunch of lessons....like, a whole school year's worth.  They have 150 lessons which breaks it down to 10,000 problems!  You might not want to share that tidbit with your kids, because it would scare them off, and that would be unfortunate, because this is a pretty cool math curriculum.

So, all that happens is you get your kids accounts set up, they log in and get to work....but it is fun work.

As part of the "engage" section there is a way for you to allow the kids to chat and interact with other "friends" using this program.  I wasn't comfortable with that, but we did use it to send messages back and forth to each other.  Honestly, they were mostly little love notes back and forth to each other that had nothing to do with math.  But, it was fun and if I didn't log on and check my messages, I would get the little people saying things like, "Mom?  Did you check my math yet?"  Now, normally that is not something that would come out of their mouths, because it may mean homework or something dreadful like that.  But, with GPALOVEMATH, I knew when they asked that I either needed to approve a reward or they had left me a message!

Each of the kids is in a different grade level, so they all have different teachers/coaches/cartoons that they worked with.  They also each got different problem solving strategies to help them work through the math problems.  For example, V-girls, was the acronym C.L.U.E.   C - Comprehend the Question, L - Let's Stop, U - Use, E - Evaluate.  Seriously, I am not sure how they did it - but that is stuck in her head now.  I just asked her to remind me what her problem solving strategy was and she just spit it out!

A-man's was the acronym F.O.W.L.  F - Find Out, O - Organize a Plan of Attack, W - Work It Out, L - Look Back and Check.

S-girl's was S.P.O.T.  S - Study the Problem, P - Plan It Out, O - Operate and Solve, and T - Test and Confirm.

Seriously, when I was writing this review, I called them all over separately to remind me and they all just knew their problem solving strategies....and they even used the words "problem solving strategy"!  Crazy cute!

They send me e-mails when each of them completes a lesson,, how they scored on their quiz at the end of the lessons, or if I need to approve one of their rewards.  I can also just simply log in to my parent account and check on them or create individualized rewards to encourage the kids to complete their lessons.

That brings up the most unique part of GPALOVEMATH.  The reward system.  It is AMAZING.  It is clever.  It is exciting.  It is attainable for the kids.  I could have created some easy, more personal rewards for my kids, but, GAPLOVEMATH had created such awesome ones already, I didn't even bother!

They had rewards that they could redeem for monetary value (like spending their reward points to trade in for a quarter from mom and dad) and even actual e-gift cards from Target or Toys R Us.  Since we live in the Atlanta area, we could have also turned in points for local attractions too like the World of Coke, or the Varsity, but the kids were super, duper excited about getting some shopping money at a store we only go into rarely!  So, yes, they have each earned two $10 Target gift cards for themselves.  Actually, S-girl has earned three of them.

But, as great as those are, it was sort of crazy how legitimately excited the kids got when they earned other rewards.  Those "other" rewards were things like cooking with mom, having mom or dad do one of their chores, picking what we have for dinner, bake a cake with mom and dad, pick a game to play with mom and dad.  I mean it when I say that they were so excited when they could come and proudly announce to me that I had to do one of their chores because they had earned that in their computer math!  We did all have a good laugh at the "stay up 30 minutes late" reward, because, seriously, around here that would have them staying up into the wee hours of the morning.  We already stay up late, so, I could have eliminated that reward and created our own custom reward. But, I didn't.

There was only one thing that bugged me/annoyed me about GPALOVEMATH.  It was the computer/robot-like voices of their individual learning coaches.  Super annoying sounding whether I was sitting next to them or in the other room while they were working.  I can't even describe it...just a non-human robot voice, that, talked too fast.  In defense of GPALOVEMATH though, the voices did not bother the kids as much as they did for me.

Really, that was the only bad thing I can say about this one.  So, yes, we loved it.  Yes, this will continue to be part of our home school....even after our review period is over.  I can't always say that about the neat things we get to try.

Want to try GPALOVEMATH for your kids?  Right now, you can get a special introductory price of $129 for an annual subscription by using Promo Code GPAINTRO15.  There is also the option of a monthly subscription for $12.99/month.

See what other reviewers thought of GPALOVEMATH.  

Visual Learning Systems - Review

We got a chance to use and review a science product by Visual Learning Systems.



It was for something called, Digital Science Online Elementary Edition, and Digital Science Online Secondary Edition.



We were able to use both editions in our house because I have such a wide variety of ages in my kids.

So, L-girl used the Secondary Edition (for grades 6-12) ,



and A-man, S-girl and even V-girl used the Elementary Edition (for grades K through 5) - which is actually divided again once you access the material to K-3 and grades 3-5.




A-girl and D-man could have also used the Secondary Edition, but their existing school schedules were a little too packed, so I decided not to have them take a look right now.  I didn't want to overwhelm them.

This is actually a pretty neat product, especially for the homeschool community.  The videos sort of reminded me of the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom show that I used to watch on Saturdays back in the 70's!

But, that little trivia tidbit aside, it is much more than that.  It is an on-line annual subscription service to a collection of K-12 science videos, clips, animations, images, assessments, student activities and teacher's guides.



We used this as a supplement to our normal school most days of the week.  Which means that some weeks the kids did the Digital Science Online 5 days a week and sometimes we only got to it 3 days a week or so.  I will say that even though we used this as a supplement, there is enough content that this could totally have been used as our stand alone science curriculum too.

We did what was the simplest for us.  (I know.  Big surprise, right?)

I gave each of the kids the log-in information and asked them to log in and do their work.  

Sometimes I sat with them, while they watched the days lesson, but, most days they were on their own.  If you know me at all, you know I am a BIG fan of the kids being able to be independent and complete their school work without me having to constantly hover.  I like to do drop by visits with this type of curriculum and Digital Science Online was perfect for this approach.  They just put on their ear phones (so they didn't interrupt the rest of us doing school nearby) and watched/listened to the days video lesson, that included an  interactive fill in the blank question and answer type quiz built into the end of the lesson.

Easy peasy.  Science done.

The videos were well done and professional.  Not the grainy, low-budget, old fashioned stuff that we sometimes get in the homeschool community.

Each video segment lasted from about 10 minutes up to 20ish minutes.  The shorter times are for younger students and longer times are for older students.

There was also a plethora of student activities available via the teacher portion of the website. Worksheets.  Pre video assessments.  Post video assessment, aka, quizzes.  Vocabulary work and other various types of worksheets and hands on activities.  A-man is anxiously awaiting me getting my act together, so we can make a volcano!  

We liked this science add-on.  The kids liked that they could jump around between the different areas of science:  Physical, Earth, Life, Integrated, Health, and Biology.  I have a few kids that are a little quirky in the fact that sometimes they are easily bored with a subject and sometimes they want to devour everything they can about a subject.  I have stopped trying to figure out which time it will be which approach.  So, the ability for them to jump around within science was perfect for this, especially for A-man.  It was also especially awesome when he was able to answer a few questions on Jeopardy based on what he had learned from Digital Science Online!

I liked this for all ages of my students too.  They did a good job explaining things for the different age and knowledge levels.  Sometimes, I did think things were a little above the head of my Kindergartner....but, I actually sort of like challenging her to see what she can learn/retain.  And, I will admit, she surprised me with some of the information that she hung onto and remembered come quiz time!

I liked the fact that Digital Science Online seems to be a good fit for different types of learners, whether they do best with visual, auditory, or hands on type of learning.

I liked that my subscription gave me access to all the different levels of the program, so I wasn't pigeonholed into a specific "age" or "grade" level.....because, if I have learned anything as a homeschooling mom.....those two words....don't necessarily mean the same thing (or apply in the same way) to the kids that live under my roof.  When my two older kids schedules quiet down a bit, I am going to have them take a look and see if it will benefit them the way it has benefitted my younger set of learners......even if it is covering stuff that they already "know", I found the Digital Science Online had a slightly different information or examples to help solidify what they already "knew".

Overall, Digital Science Online was a winner in our book.  
If you are looking for an on-line science program that is high quality, you can get a subscription to Visual Learning Systems for $99.  This isn't just for homeschoolers though either, there is also an option for a subscription for your school too with pricing based on student population.  

Want to take a closer look before you commit to the subscription?  You can sign up for a free trial first to take a look.  This is one product where I cannot really imagine that it wouldn't be a  good fit for just about every family, no matter the predominant learning style.   


Take a look at how other TOS Reviewers used Digital Online Science and what they thought.

Standard Deviants - Review

Wow....was this a fantastic program to review!  It is called Standard Deviants Accelerate.



We got to try out an annual subscription to  Standard Deviants Accelerate homeschool courses.

Here is the simple list of the courses that they have available:

Arithmetic - Grades 3+
Fundamental Math - Grades 4+
Earth Science - Grades 6+
Nutrition - Grades 6+
Algebra - Grades 7+
Biology - Grades 7+
Chemistry - Grades 9+
English Comp. - Grades 9+
U.S. History - Grades 9+
AP Biology - Grades 11+
AP Chemistry - Grades 11+
AP U.S. Government & Politics - Grades 11+
AP U.S. History - Grades 11+
AP Eng. Composition - Grades 11+

But, the simpleness is deceiving.  Did you notice that they have coursework for grades 3 through 12?  And, really, a grown up could use these courses too.

This is a totally on-line course.  Yes, I will usually say I am not totally in love with my kids doing too much of their school while staring at a screen.  But, I have to say, this one felt different.  It didn't bother me that it was video based. 


The actual teaching "style" is also quirky and different.  They joke around.  They use more than one "teacher".  They use visual aids/graphics.  Take a look at this short clip to get an idea for the "quirky" style that I sort of love......

One slightly different aspect to this video aspect is that next to the video clip is the total transcript of the script of what they are saying in the video.  So, if you child learns better by reading, or any combination of listening, seeing, and hearing, Standard  Deviants Accelerate has got your back. The information is in digestible chunks that won't overwhelm you.



Primarily, L-girl was my guinea pig for this one.  She started out with the Algebra course....which in our homeschool, she hasn't quite officially started yet.  Quite honestly, Rainman and I had a disagreement about whether we felt she was ready to dip her toes into upper level (hard) math.  Rainman didn't want to push her and scare her off, or give her the idea that she wasn't smart enough.  I, on the other hand, thought she would enjoy the challenge and the ego boost she would get by doing hard math a little bit earlier than D-man and A-girl did.


We were both a little bit right on this one.  When she first started out, it was a little rough.  She just kind of shrugged when I asked her about the lessons and mumbled something  like, "Yeah, I sort of get it."  She was scoring in the low 70s on her quizzes....which, for her, is very low.

But, I asked her to commit to sticking with Standard Deviants Accelerate, at least for the review period.....and to not worry about it....this was just an experiment. 

She ended up doing a lesson everyday, rather than just the suggested 3 days a week. (that was the part I was right - she was challenged and didn't want to admit defeat!)  I saw a big difference by the time she was done.  I sat through a lesson or two to really watch and see what they were like and how she responded.

I saw her wheels turning, connections being made and just generally getting a better handle on how Algebra works.

The times I sat by her side and listened to a lesson too, I felt my own brain grinding back to life.  After a lesson on x,y intercepts and slope value, I turned to L-girl and said, "You know what?  I understood that!  There were lots of steps to figure it out, but.....I got it!"


(In the bottom right graphic, it shows the progress report that I can see on all my students to see how they are doing.  The example is more for a normal school setting, but what I see is similar....just a lot less kids!)

Each lesson has 5 components:

Video clip (these last 5-10 minutes, have the scrolling script alongside the video, you can pause and play whenever you want, and take notes to save in your "locker".....actually, you can just copy and paste right from the transcript too, if you are feeling a little lazy)

Vocab - just what is says covers the vocabulary used in the lesson

Diagram - which is an activity section tied in with the lesson

Quiz - which is graded in real time

Written answer - This is the only part of this that I have to grade the work myself.  They do help out by giving me a rubric to follow, so I am not just flying blind.

Before we started, I attended an on-line Webinar that explained how to set up classes for one or more of my kids, how the student would access stuff, how they took notes and saved them in their locker, and just in general how their whole program works.    I liked it because even though I had already clicked around on their website, I still wasn't quite sure how everything worked.  They explained things really clearly and I was able to ask specific questions related to K-girl and get answers.

The webinar I attended was for a group of us moms/teacher.  But, here is a tutorial for how their student accounts work.  They explained things so well to me, that I was able to turn around and explain it to L-girl, but this would have come in handy if I hadn't had time for the webinar.

Standard Deviants really had super customer support.  They were open to questions during the webinar, we were encouraged to contact them if we had any issues or questions.  It seemed genuine too.  They seemed legitimately excited that we were going to try out Standard Deviants Accelerate with our kids.  Like, they were excited and knew that we were going to love it.  That kind of excited.

They were right.  We did love it.  It was a really nice addition to our normal math.  But, we could have just used it as our actual curriculum.

In addition to L-girl working through Standard Deviants Algebra for 7th grade, I also had D-man take a look at their AP US History course.  He is taking that at his school this year and a friend of his who had graduated a few years ago, recommended that he supplement the course a bit to make sure he did great when he took the AP exam at the end of the year.  I have an AP US History book that he could have used too, but he opted to try out the Standard Deviants Accelerate video course.

He has only just taken a quick look at a few lessons, but liked them.  He thought they were funny and said that they covered slightly  different things than his textbook at school was covering, and went into more detail in others.  So, he is going to keep checking in on this course through the year and I suspect do a bit of cramming when the end of the year AP exam comes around.  (Can't really blame him...I did a bit of cramming in my day too....but my only option back then was textbooks.)

Overall, this is a really awesome course.

L-girl will continue with her Algebra.  D-man will brush up on his AP US History.  The other possible combinations of kids and courses are almost infinite

Not sure if this is something that will work at your house?  You can sign up for a free 6 month trial before you make up your mind.

When you are ready to give Standard Deviants Accelerate in all their quirky goodness a try, the classes are each $99 for the year or $24.95 per month for each student. The AP classes are $14.95 per month per student.

All the TOS reviewers got to choose whatever class/classes they wanted to, so take a look and see what they tried, and what they thought about Standard Deviants Accelerate.  

Mango Language Review

This is a review.

Oh, what a fun, fun, product to review for Mango Languages.



We got a change to pick from over 60 languages to start learning, here at home through Mango Languages Homeschool Edition! The programs are recommended for ages 6 and up.  (I could have even taken a class)

I just let the kids pick....I didn't do any mother-like nudging either!

Four of my students were able to use Mango Languages.

A-girl picked Irish
L-girl picked Irish
A-man picked German
S-girl picked German

I was actually happy that they ended up pairing off in their choices, so they could practice with each other.

Now, would you like to know their reasons for picking what they picked?

Here is A-girl and L-girl's reason:



See the guy on the far right?  The blond.  Yup, he is Irish.

What a noble reason for choosing a language, right?

Here is A-man and S-girl's reason:

She is a special friend of.....D-man's.

We will call her J-girl.  J-girls' mother is actually from Germany.  J-girl has dual citizenship and speaks German.  J-girl and her mom speak German to each other in public sometimes.  It is cool, but there is a little piece of me that is afraid they are talking about me....in front of me....you know?    Edit:  Upon reading this blog post, they have assured me that they don't talk about me, so I feel much better.  Whew!!!

Obviously, D-man isn't the only one who likes J-girl!



We got to try the beta version of Mango Languages Homeschool Edition.  The homeschool product is still pretty new and they were still adding aspects of the program as we were trying it out.  But, in general, here are the things that are available when you get a subscription to Mango Languages.

You have a choice of over 60 different languages
Progress Assessments

Built-in journals, discussions and wikis
Collaborative learning spaces
eNote messaging
/chat rooms

Access to embedded/downloadable content

Support from other community members

Calendars to schedule meetings or study groups

The thing that I think is one of the most unique aspects to this program is the sense of community.  You can find other people, all over the world, that are working on or know the language you are learning.  You can practice with each other.  You can ask questions about translations or when to use a certain form of a word.


Within the different language spaces, there are forum or discussion groups.  In the Irish one, a few links for pronunciation helps was added.  We currently have a small group learning Irish, so there isn't much happening in our discussion group, but I can see where this would be an awesome feature for one of the more common languages.

I heard of an example of one of the students who was learning Russian had trouble with the Russian word for the word "you".  She put a question on the forum and her question was answered by another student who speaks numerous languages, including Russian, on the forum.  It is sort of like homework help or having a tutor available when you get stuck.

Mango Languages is on top of any safety concerns you may have if this type of "chat" situation, so things like anonymity aren't allowed.  You can also set up your parent account to be sent every communication through your child's page.

The whole idea behind Mango Languages is that it is a conversational approach to learning a language - so it isn't like my old years of Spanish, where I learned how to conjugate verbs, but not how to speak to anyone.

This program teaches you how to talk and communicate in a different language.  It doesn't really focus on writing or the nitty gritty of conjugating verbs.  But, if you ever find yourself in another country, you will have learned the way to ask for directions, to use the bathroom, find out their names, what is the best restaurant to eat at, how you use the subway/train.  You know....the real stuff you need to know when you travel!

Honestly, it didn't bother me at all that there wasn't really a written/spelling portion to Mango Languages. Although A-girl said that she sort of missed having that component because she thinks she gets the words more solidly in her head if she knows and has to practice how to spell them.  Out of my 4 students, she was the only one that missed writing/spelling.  I think my other 3 students felt less pressure that they didn't have to know how to spell the words.  They were happy just to know how to say them!

Like I said, Mango Languages is still adding things to their program and these are just a few of the things coming up on the horizon:

Enhanced Tracking and Progress Monitoring - including seat time (for students and parents)
Goals and Personal Lesson Plans (both stand-alone and tied into Mango courses)

Resume and Portfolio Builder

I thought the program was great without the enhanced tracking and progress monitoring, but I can see where knowing how much time your student had put in would be helpful.  I had a chance to attend a webinar by the creators/forces behind Mango Languages to explain in a little more detail of what is coming for Mango Languages and their excitement was contagious.  They definitely have a passion for people to be able to learn another language.




For the purpose of this review, I will show you some of the basics of how Mango Languages works.  We will pretend you want to learn Pirate.  Yes, I said, Pirate!

That is one of the 60+ options.  At first I thought it was a joke, but then I decided it was actually sort of brilliant.  What better way to get a reluctant boy-child to learn a language?  Then, once he masters Pirate, he can move onto, shall we say, a more useful language, like Spanish or German?

When you pick a language, you will end up on a page that looks like this that says, "You are not a member of this Space."  At this point, you could read the information included in the Mango Passport section about what is included.  If you decide it will suit you, you just click on the Join This Space button near the top of the page.

Then you will get a Login to Mango button that pops up...pick that and it will take you to your specific language page, where you can get started.

Here is the first page of Lesson 1: Chapter 1 - Captain's Orders.  (Call Someone Names; Express Surprise; Give Sailing Commands; Great and Friend and a Supervisor; Pay a Compliment-------)

The Grammar Goals also  cracked me up!

"Use Me as a Possessive"  

After these first few cards, it jumps into the actual conversation lesson.  The conversation is first given in English, then in your language of choice.  You can have it repeat the whole conversation or just pieces of it. You love through the lesson repeated phrases and translating from English into "your" language. Here is an example page from Latin, not Pirate.




I will note that a voice comparison tool is available, but since we don't have a good microphone, we didn't use this tool.  The kids just talked out loud to the computer.  From what I could tell, they sounded pretty good.

This turned into one of those subjects that I do not have to ever force them to do.  Well, that is not entirely true.  There was like a week and a half where S-girl didn't go on.  I would remind her/ask her and she would tell me she just forgot.

Upon further investigation, I found out she lost her German notebook that had all her notes and pronunciations in it and she didn't think she could do the lessons without it.  Creating their own notebook was something the kids came up with themselves.  They all created one and took notes on pronunciation/usage on their own to refer back to when they needed it.  Luckily, we found her notebook and she is back at it!  (I would like to see a way to print flashcards for the languages as another way of solidifying the words.  It would have been a nice way for me to be more involved in their lessons too)

They fight for computer time.  Some people, who shall remain nameless, (L-girl) ...oops.....I mean, I guess, officially, she is still nameless, right?  I didn't actually name her L-girl when she was born! Anyway, a certain someone gets competitive and completes more than one lesson a day, when she can.

I love hearing them speaking their German and Irish back to the computer.  Like I said, they have all started keeping notebooks to keep track of the phrases and rules of the language.

The beauty of this program is that if they pick one language, they are not just limited to that language.  They can pick other ones.  They can learn more than one at a time, if they want to.  All for the same price.

Did that make sense?

If they wanted to, they could work on Biblical Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and Pirate all at the same time.  Or, they could try out a new language every week if they wanted.  Once you are a member of Mango Languages, you have free reign to learn as many different languages as you want, in whatever time frame you want.

There is a component to Mango Languages that we didn't get to try, but I find intriguing for future use, it is called Mango Premiere, which is centered around learning languages via foreign films.  Most of the films currently  in Mango Premiere aren't quite suitable for the under 18 crowd, but they are working on finding more family friendly foreign films to add to their repertoire.  I will definitely be checking back on this one.  (If nothing else, my picks on my Oscar ballot may be more knowledgeable in the foreign film categories!)


If you want, you can give Mango Language a try, for free.  Once you decide you love it, like we have, the current price is: 

1 subscription is $18/month or $125/year total 
2 subscriptions is $28/month or $175 /year total                     
3 subscriptions is $38/month or $225/year total                   
4 subscriptions is $48/month or $275/year total               
5 subscriptions is $58/month or $325/year total

(more than 6 has special pricing)

The price will be tough for us, but if they keep on using it/loving like they are right now, it would be worth it for the language training they can get....especially because they aren't locked into just one language.  You know how kids change their minds.  This time I won't have to force them to stick with their first choice because I already paid the money, you know?

We really liked this one and I think it has great possibilities for us for years to come! A-girl and L-girl are convinced it will help them get a husband. 

Slaan!  (Goodbye in Irish!)

Take a look at what the other TOS Reviewers thought about Mango Languages.  Or check out some of the links here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MangoLanguages
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mangolanguages/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MangoLanguages