Click here to download the World Math Day FAQs.

“Adios . . . Adios . . . Adios, my amigo, adios.”

Brooke started it, and soon Nathan and Faith joined in. Blake (13 years old) groaned a bit and tolerated their jubilant singing on the way to gym and swim. Paige couldn’t help singing along even though she hasn’t really watched the videos with them.

And so, Speekee has infiltrated our home. The irresistible jingles and repetitive dialogue are really teaching my kids some basic Spanish, and they are liking it.

Product: Speekee Spanish online learning videos

Details: An online Spanish learning program that includes videos, activity suggestions, and printable worksheets. Ten lessons in all to introduce a child to conversational Spanish.

Price: $7.50 per month

What we loved . . .

• Foreign language without tears. We’ve tried so many foreign language program I could almost cry. Each one we either don’t learn from, get tired of, or just plain don’t like. Speekee has brought something new to our home — foreign language learning that kids love, and I do, too.
• Full access. With the monthly fee you can watch and rewatch each video as much as you please. Your kids can watch on their own or as a group, with you or without. My kids did a little of all those arrangements. The printable worksheets can be printed out for as many of your kids as needed and you can even reprint their favorites to do more than once.
• Likable characters. My kids enjoyed the mix of puppets and real people. The kids spoke clearly and didn’t seem overly scripted or fake. The puppets entertained while educating.
• Immersion method. Speekee drops you right into the situations with Spanish speakers all around. There is the option of English subtitles which can be beneficial to some kids.
• Nice accent. The actors all spoke Spanish well with a very natural pronunciation. It was easy to understand them and imitate their words.
• Enjoyable pace. Not too fast, like some other adult immersion programs I have seen. And, not too slow or mundane like some that don’t seem to really help kids learn to converse. Speekee has a good balance of real life conversation and repetition to help a child learn new words without getting bored in the process.

Some considerations . . .

• More for young kids.While anyone from preschool through adulthood could benefit from using Speekee, in our home it was more appreciated by the younger group. My 9 year old was okay with it, but it was the biggest hit with my 7 and 5 year olds.
• Spain Spanish. Most of us in the United States would come in contact with Latin American Spanish rather than Spain Spanish. The accent varies slightly and some words and expressions are a bit different. You could think of it as the difference between our English and British English. We can definitely communicate together, but there will be a few differences. Most of the differences in Spanish I don’t think would make a big difference at the beginner level.
• Needs repetition. Spanish will never be learned overnight. Kids will not likely watch the videos and instantly remember all the new phrases and songs taught in it. However, my kids did not mind watching the same videos more than once to cement the new vocabulary in their minds.
• Helpful if parent watches along. While I was kind of hoping I could play the video and then go work with the older students on something I found that my younger kids absorbed and interacted the most with me right there. For example, Speekee would say, “Y tu?” and expect the kids to repeat the previous phrase. My kids didn’t understand that and were just sitting watching. Of course, they still picked it up and sang the songs with gusto throughout the day, but for them to get the most out of the video it is best to watch along with them.

Learning another language cannot start too young, and Speekee can be a great tool in drawing and keeping the attention of children as they learn Spanish.

For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This product was provided to me free of charge through Speekee as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.

“Mom, how do you spell ‘truck’? Oh wait! I know because my typing program taught me!” I didn’t know if I should believe my five year old. His reading has been taking off, but to remember the ‘ck’ at the end of a short , short-vowel word? I was skeptical.

But, sure enough, he sounded it out and spelled it correctly, from the sometimes tricky ‘tr’ at the beginning to the two letter ‘k’ sound at the end. As he said, we owe that little milestone to Talking Fingers. Talking Fingers has quickly flown to celebrity status in our house. We received a one year license for three, so my 9 year old, 6 year old, and 5 year have been giving it a test drive.

Each of them benefited in a different way from the program. My 9 year old brushed up on her phonics and worked on her typing letter by letter making sure she typed them correctly. The 6 year old plowed through the material the same way she devours books right now, but didn’t spend too much time on the correct fingering. The five year old is steadily working through it and reinforcing the phonics that he is currently mastering.

The program begins with a catchy tune and then the typing hands take it away as they teach sounds and the corresponding key strokes on the computer keyboard through a game format. As each sound is introduced the hands show the proper way to type it, tells you the sound, and then leads you into various activities to learn the sound, practice typing it properly, identifying it in words, and hopefully rid the city of the “virus” that stole the letter sounds.

Product: Talking Fingers
Details : A program designed for K-3 graders that teaches spelling, reading, and phonics along with introductory typing.
Price : $35 for online version for one year for one student ($55 for 2, $70 for 3, etc.) They also have a CD version for $79.

What we loved . . .

• Hands on and visual. All three of my kids really enjoyed this program. My six year old workbookaholic, my fourth grade anti-writing child, and my five year old that loves anything that is his. The program gives lots of opportunity to see and hear sounds and words and the typing offers a great way for kids who might despise picking up a pencil but need that kinesthetic reinforcement in their phonics studies.
• Entertaining. Although my fourth grader found it a little babyish (it is designed for K-3), she was quickly won over by a program that keeps the user engaged and gives a very hands on approach to learning and reviewing phonics rules.
• Multi-age. Each child will  glean different lessons from the program, but those just learning to read and those that need a refresher can enjoy these lessons.
• Corresponding print material. On their website you can find little readers to print out and use in conjunction with the sounds they work with in Talking Fingers. Just check out the downloads.
• Printable Certificates. I find them a little silly, but my kids love to print off the certificates after each letter that they complete. Proof that they really did learn something while “playing.”
• Reports. The teacher/parent can log in and see what level of mastery the student is achieving. These are pretty basic reports and don’t show many specifics about what the child needs to work on. But, it does give you an idea of how well they are doing overall on the program.

Some considerations . . .

• Lengthy introduction. You can try it for free to see what I mean, but the kids do need to spend some time watching a video at the beginning to understand what they will be doing in the program and to introduce them to some of the characters. None of my kids complained about have to watch this little “cartoon” before getting to work.
• Lets kids pass without passing. You can choose what the passing percentage is for each child, but it will still allow them to move on if they are doing well overall. So, my son’s spelling was below the passing expectation in the first couple levels, but he kept moving on. However, amazingly, his scores kept getting better with each level. I would not usually like a program done that way, but it still worked, at least for him.

Talking Fingers has been a hit with all three of my kids that tried it. While the ones who are reading independently worked through the levels fairly quickly it was a good review for them (and a good intro to proper typing), and my son who is just learning the sounds really benefited from this unique interaction with the phonemes he is learning.

Check it out for yourself with a demo version available online. If you do decide to order, you can find a form on that page to give you 20% off as well!

Each family will have a different experience with a product, so I would definitely encourage you to check out some other TOS Crew reviews on this product, over at the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This online program was provided to me free of charge through Talking Fingers as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.

The following is from an email from Lee Binz, the HomeScholar:

Last year I met Sarah through the writing of Jim Baumgardner and now he is helping others in their endeavor to write well or teach their children to write well. This is the third and final installment of the series ‘Fundamentals of Story Writing” by Jim Baumgardner of the Sarah Books Series, hosted over at Creative Learners.

Mr. Baumgardner, an award winning author, has shared with us over the last 2 months free lessons in story writing for our homeschool students of any age!  Thess articles have blessed my family, and many more! You can see the original articles by clicking here for #1 and here for #2.

For today’s third and final installment in the series, check out Creative Learners.

There are many great programs to help develop your child’s writing skills.

You may have heard of or used Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW), or Writing Strands, or Write Shop, or a number of other programs.

I also recently came across this website that shares lots of great writing tips, In Our Write Minds. (written by a Write Shop author)

Last year I had the privilege of reviewing a well-written book called Sarah’s Wish. The author, Jim Baumgardner, has started writing a short series of posts to help parents help kids write.

Since writing is an area we plan to spend some time on we enjoyed reading the first post for our group Composition time today. He focuses on how to come up with ideas for your writing projects and his ideas really helped the wheels start turning in our house.

Check out his full post at Creative Learners, and be inspired!

Like I promised, here is the great deal from YourTeacher.com. The sooner you sign up, the longer you can enjoy this. It expires on August 31, so check it out soon! Of course, to take advantage of it, you do need to join the Homeschool Buyers Co-op first.

Do you want to keep your middle or high schooler engaged with math studies through the summer? The Homeschool Buyers Co-op is pleased to offer members a FREE subscription to YourTeacher.com, a leading online math curriculum for middle and high school-level math. This subscription gives you full access to ALL YourTeacher.com courses — Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry — through August 31, 2010.If you were to itemize the elements of an ideal online math program, your list might include some of the following:

• Video tutorials by an experienced math teacher
• An abundance of interactive practice exercises, with step-by-step audio explanations
• Self-tests that your student can take over and over until she develops a sense of mastery.
• Reports, so that you can keep track track of your student’s progress
• Audio, video, text, and Flash animations for students visual or auditory learning styles
• Correlations with standard math texts, so that it can be used in conjunction with your favorite math text
• Built-in SAT and ACT prep for college-bound students.
• Self-paced instruction — of course! — so that students and proceed as quickly or slowly as needed so as to not become frustrated or bored

If any of those elements are on YOUR wish list, then YourTeacher.com may be the right program for you, because all of the above are standard features of YourTeacher.com!

Acclaimed by Homeschoolers

One of the things that drew our interest in YourTeacher.com were the reviews and testimonials by homeschoolers:

• “Lessons are very thorough and offer a number of ways for students to learn and practice the material. Explanations are excellent. This is one of the most truly ‘independent-learning’; math courses available.”
  - Cathy Duffy, Author of “100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum” (Read more.)
• “YourTeacher.com excels in the comprehensiveness and clarity of the lessons, in the ease of use, and in functionality.”
  - Maria Miller, Founder of HomeschoolMath.net (Read more.)
• “”I can personally vouch for this program … awesome!” – Paula H., Co-op Member
• “WE LOVE YOUR PROGRAM” – Shawna, homeschooler
• “… perfect for homeschoolers.” – Lisa, homeschooler
• “… an absolute godsend for us.” – Linda, homeschooler
• “I love it!” – Melanie, homeschooler
• “The best website for math on the Internet.” – Shirley, homeschooler
• “I LOVE your site!!!! So do my children.” – Tamara, homeschooler
• “I love your lessons…” – Cherie, homeschooler

Available FREE, Exclusively Through the Co-op!

This offer definitely goes into our Group Buy “Hall of Fame” — up to 3 months of a leading math curriculum, absolutely FREE — a $69.50 value! But don’t delay! To take full advantage of this special offer, sign up now! Your free subscription to YourTeacher.com will expire at midnight, August 31!

To take full advantage of this special offer, place your order TODAY!

Regards,
Homeschool Buyers Co-op

I have mentioned on here before the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. This is a free website that offers great deals to homeschoolers. I finally joined (no idea why I waited so long), and I can tell you it is completely painless. And, the deals are amazing!
Membership is free and confidential, and gives you access to great discounts from over 100 educational suppliers.
They also have a “SmartPoints” program where you get points for doing things that benefit you and other homeschoolers. You can then use your SmartPoints to buy curriculum.

If you click the following link and join, I’ll get 100 SmartPoints, and you’ll get 100 SmartPoints just for joining. (Click me!)

Tune in tomorrow for a great freebie that you will need to be a member of the co-op to join. Free higher level math for the summer . . . be sure to check it out.

Found this on the Homeschool Buyers Co-op site:

Check out the NASA site for more details.

Ashworth approached me about helping them get the word out about their great program. I know many people find it challenging to teach all the subjects well at home as their homeschoolers head into high school . Ashworth offers online and correspondence courses that can help you meet this need.

Ashworth is a paid advertiser.