Homeschool Planet Review

In talking with several homeschooling moms lately I have discovered more than one thing in common with them. A lot of us hate to keep grades. Some of the ladies I talked with don't until high school and a very few didn't at all. They know what their kids are doing, what they know, and how well they know it; why assign grades?

Well, my nature is such that I need grades to fill in the forms. I like forms filled in and blanks to not be empty. Plus, it makes me feel better seeing all those forms filled in!

 

Unfortunately, it is rather difficult to find an online planner that is easy to use and has all the features you want. Homeschool Planet just might be the thing you are looking for.

 

Homeschool Planet includes:

*A Calendar View that lets you see anybody's or everybody's calendars at once

*A Planner View with a simple list of everything you need to do and when

*Automatic Rescheduling -- A class time changes? You miss a few days to illness or vacation? No problem! Homeschool Planet automatically reschedules all the affected classes and assignments.

*Separate logins for kids to view their assignments and check them off when completed.

*Daily Digest emails to everyone in your family with their own schedule, assignments, and chores for the day

*Email and text message reminders to help everyone stay on schedule (Some limits apply.)

*Lesson plans with assigments, web links, notes, and more

*Easy attendance tracking, grading and transcript creation

*To Do lists for everyone in your family

*Shopping lists (one each for Target, Safeway, etc.) that you can text to your spouse or have sent to your smartphone when on the go

*Widgets you can use to do research, send text messages, and more. These are really cool!

*Mobile Version -- Ability to view and edit (with some limitations) your calendar on SmartPhones and tablets

*Calendar sharing -- View the contents of your spouse's Google Calendar inside Homeschool Planet, and vice versa! This also works with Apple iCal and other online calendars.

*Lesson Copying -- Copy any lesson for use at a later time by another student.

 

http://youtu.be/XXOVwaDUMqg

 

Homeschool Classifieds is offfering a FREE 30 day trial! Head over Here and check it out. You DO need to be a member of Homeschool Classifieds but membership is FREE as well!

 

Now for what I thought of Homeschool Planet. I like it. It is fairly easy to use and doesn't have a ginormous learning curve like a few other programs out there. There are many scheduling options, re-scheduling, chores, appointments, multiple students, etc. to choose from. It is a pretty exhaustive list of options. Almost too many? I'm not sure. It would take a while to use this program to its fullest I think. Homeschool Planet would be your one-stop shopping for scheduling school and your life.

 

You can sign up to get Daily and Weekly Digests of the upcoming events. It can goes to email and I had it sent to my kids as well. It can be printed out for them to use as a guide for getting the work done. I thought that was pretty cool!

I am going to show you some pictures from my tablet of how things look and some of the options.

The picture above is pretty self-explanatory, really. You are creating an event! It is straightforward.

You choose what to add or Copy an Existing Class-that one is HUGE people!

Rescheduling assignments because life gets in the way can be a pain but Homeschool Planet makes is doable.

Display options for how your planner will look. I like options!

Calendar or Planner view, I can never stay on just one. Homeschool Planet offers both!

 

 

What I didn't like about Homeschool Planet was the mobile version. I am a gal that likes the desktop version of just about everything I see. I just do. It is a personal preference and I know that. Homeschool Planet does not offer a desktop version on a tablet at this point. There are options for the desktop not available on tablets and the set up looks different than the desktop version. Now, my husband will tell you that most people don't care about such things but I do and so I mention it. Just in case you care about that little thing as well! ****The Widgets are pretty cool on the desktop version-don't neglect checking those out!****

I wouldn't let that be a deterrant if you like what you see. Try it out!

 

If you want to order a subscription after your FREE Trial, it is $65 for 1 year. You can head over Here to sign up!

Find them here:

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

 

Head over to Home & School Mosaics and see what everyone else thought of Homeschool Planet.

 

 

 

The Power in Your Hands Review

The Power in Your Hands Writing Nonfiction in High School by Sharon Watson is a God send in our home. I am notoriously bad at teaching writing so having something walk me through the process is great. We have tried several programs and they were fine they just didn't stick.

So when this review came up I was a little hesitant. But I decided to go ahead and try. It couldn't hurt, right?

I am happy to say that it didn't hurt at all. It was quite enjoyable in fact.

Here is a little about the program first.

Written by the same author who wrote Apologia Educational Ministries' popular middle school writing curriculum JUMP IN, this course is the natural next step for those who value college-preparatory material presented in incremental steps with a conversational tone.

Sharon Watson has the knack of teaching students with no prior writing experience in the same class with advanced writers. She knows when to introduce new material and how to keep it interesting. Both reluctant and eager writers will benefit from the way she reveals exactly how the "magic trick" of writing is done!

With over 100 daily lessons and complete instructions for 22 essays and reports, this is an engaging course students will enjoy--or not dread. And, more good news: the course almost teaches itself. Really.

Because writers come in all varieties, this course begins with basic writing skills so that inexperienced writers can catch up quickly on fundamentals, and then it smoothly merges them with their age-mates. More advanced writers will enjoy the Digging Deeper lessons designed specifically for them. No matter their writing level or their attitude toward writing, students will learn essay structures, vital writing tools, proofreading skills, and a confidence that comes from success.

Prerequisites: None.

Grammar not included.

Recommended as a companion volume: THE POWER IN YOUR HANDS: WRITING NONFICTION IN HIGH SCHOOL, TEACHER'S GUIDE. This teacher's guide includes all assignments and checklists, answers to chapter work, a year of engaging writing prompts, and a helpful grading guide.

 

The Student and Teachers books are all you need for this program. Yes, you will need the Teacher Book. It is full of teaching helps, ideas, evaluation forms, and so much more. I am not kidding, this book is going to take you some time to digest the wealth of information in it. It is invaluable. I have found myself re-reading sections several times. Unfortunately I never learned most of this when I was in school so it is pretty great to be teaching it to my kids now. Learning along side them is just about the greatest thing, isn't it?

The Student book is written in a conversational style with black and white pages. It is great for kids that get distractted by all the 'noise' on a page in other books. It is straight forward and to the point. Yet, there is humor written into it as well. It isn't dry, boring material that the student will quicikly tire of; it is engaging and divided into sections to make it digestable.

Something we have really enjoyed with this program are the 14 Minute Power Surges. These have taken the pressure off of writing and really made the girls think on the spot and get something on paper. The 14 Minute Power Surges are just what they sound like. The student is given a topic and they write about it for 14 minutes. It isn't graded; it is just written. Now, I think the farther you get into the program you end up using some of them and expanding on them for papers; we just haven't gotten that far yet. As soon as I said that they weren't going to be graded on spelling, grammar, etc. they felt freer to write. They started filling full pages in those 14 minutes and have a blast doing it. The prompts are given to the teacher in the Teacher book and are divided by month.

 

I also appreciate the lesson plans. They are divided by sections within the chapters and extra items for the teacher are written italics. I definitely felt like I had everything I needed to teach writing with this program. We will keep going with it and I can't wait to see the improvement in their writing later in the year. They are already more willing to write after just a short time using this than they have ever been. That's a win already!

The Power in Your Hands is available HERE and sells for $39.98 for the Student Book and $14.98 for the Teacher Book. The Power in Your Hands is written for grades 9-12.

Writing with Sharon Watson has many options for your student. Jump In, Writing with Fiction (High School), and The Power in Your Hands. Each one is found HERE. Check out the website for more ideas, FAQ's, and their blog.

 

 

 

Udderly Smooth Review

Winter is the perfect time to try new lotions. I am pretty particular though. I have demonstrated for several lotion companies over the years and have found some pretty great ones out there. Ones that I would recommend to my family. But they can't have strong scents in them. I am very sensitive to smells and a lotion with a strong scent is an immediate no from me.

With that in mind I was a little leery of signing up for this review. I wanted to try it but was worried about having to say that I couldn't even be in the same room as the lotion without getting a headache. Thankfully that was not the case.

Udderly Smooth is a fantastic lotion. It smells great-clean and fresh without overpowering you. It is creamy and soaks into skin quickly.

Okay, okay, hold on. Here is some info from the company:

Made in the USA for over thirty years, Udderly Smooth® products contain rich moisturizing ingredients. Not your average moisturizing lotion- Udderly Smooth® can be used on Dry Skin, Cracked Skin, forDiabetes Foot Care, as a Facial Moisturizer, as a General Moisturizing Lotion and many other uses.

Pioneered by a Pharmacist, reasonably priced and made in America’s heartland. Use Udderly Smooth® daily for smooth, soft skin head to toe.

Original Udderly Smooth® Udder Cream is a greaseless, stainless water-based moisturizer with a light fresh fragrance. Originally developed for use on dairy cows, Udderly Smooth® Udder Cream. is used by many people for their dry and chapped skin. Use Udderly Smooth® as an everyday multipurpose moisturizing lotion. Udderly Smooth®. contains rich moisturizing ingredients that perform to soften dry, chapped skin. Udderly Smooth® is available in 2 oz tubes, 4 oz. tubes, 8 oz jars, 10 oz with pump, 12 oz jars, 16 fl. oz bottles and 32 fl oz bottles.

Intrigued? I was. I had seen this available at our local store but never gave it a second thought. I mean, really. Udder Cream? Sure cows need to keep their udders from getting chapped but how does that translate to my skin? I wasn't interested.

 

Little did I know I was missing out. When my package came I was thrilled with what I was given to try. The box was full of goodies. I was squeeling with delight until I realized they were too cold to try right away! We had been gone and the postman left them on the porch for me. Usually not a problem but a cold snap came through causing freezing temps. I had to practice a little patience while the box was staring at me from across the room.

When it finally warmed up I snatched the hand cream up and squeezed a dollap into my hand. It was creamy and didn't run all over my hands. That was a good sign. But then I started rubbing it in and it felt like it was turning to water. Not a good sign. I was sure that it was going to evaporate and be as if I hadn't used any lotion at all. I was just about to sigh in frustration when I noticed my hands. The watery feeling was gone and my hands were smooth and soft. The lotion had already soaked in leaving my hands feeling wonderful. There was no sticky residue and the soft feeling continued for several hours.

I was hooked. I put the hand cream in my purse and offered it to everyone I saw!

Next was the Foot Cream. My oldest daughter is a soccer player and had some pretty calloused feet so I made her slather the stuff on her tootsies. She balked at first but when she felt the lotion sinking in making her feet soft she stopped complaining. The Foot Cream with Shea Butter is wonderful. It is extra thick like the Body Cream but still doesn't leave a sticky residue. Plus, they make your skin soft and moisturized.

We are loving Udderly Smooth at our house!

Want to find out more? Visit Udderly Smooth and check out everything they offer. You can find the Hand Lotion, Body Cream, and Foot Cream we tried and check out the other great products they offer on This Page. You can see on this page that the prices are very reasonable. Ranging from around $5 up to $8 for different sizes and creams. The Foot Cream 8oz option is only $6! You can't beat those prices!

Visit their website and Facebook page to find out more about this great product.

Don't forget to head over to Mosaic Reviews and see what everyone else thought of Udderly Smooth.

 

A Tale of Two Kingdoms and God's Unfolding Story of Salvation Mosaic Review

A Tale of Two Kingdoms by Heather A. Kendall is a book worth reading and owning. (this is saying a lot because I won't buy a book or recommend someone buy it unless it is incredibly good) It is a book that will draw you closer to God and help you see the the map of God's story better. The epic story unfolds as an "overview of the Scriptures is presented in an interesting and evangelistic way. Many will find the prophetic interpretation challenging."

Students of God's Word will want to devour this book.

Primary purpose:

To trace the development of God's plan of salvation through Jesus, the promised Seed, from its beginning to its triumphant end in the new heaven and new earth.

Secondary purposes:

1. To consider how Satan has continually tried to thwart God's plan of salvation, but he will never succeed.

2. In the Old Testament God declared Israel to be his special people. In the New Testament the church became God's special people. How did those first Jewish believers respond to this difficult transition?

---

Description:

The entire Bible is God’s story of salvation. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything was very good. This included Satan. Then puffed up with pride, Satan sinned by coveting the throne of God. Later, in the Garden of Eden, he was ecstatic when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. From that moment they became members of Satan’s kingdom. Yet God was not taken by surprise. Before creation the Triune God had already devised a plan of salvation. He loves us so much! Therefore God promised Adam and Eve that one would come who would destroy Satan’s power.

The Old Testament describes God’s gradual preparation for the coming of his Son. At first only a few believed and waited for the promised Seed. Then God formed the nation of Israel and set them apart as his special people. Through the prophet Daniel, the Lord even gave the Jews the due date for the arrival of Jesus. He expected his people to wait for the birth of the Saviour. When God was silent for 400 years between the Old and the New Testaments, people were not. The Pseudepigrapha or false writings describe the heart attitude of some of the Jews. These writers influenced many people. Finally, the promised Seed was born exactly when God planned.

Meanwhile, in the Old Testament, Satan actively tried to prevent the birth of the promised Seed. Realizing that Jesus was born did not prevent him from continuing to try to thwart God’s plan. At Jesus’ death, Satan likely thought that he had finally succeeded in his evil desires to usurp God’s throne. His plan, however, backfired. At his resurrection Jesus triumphed over Satan, once for all time. Now, until the end of the world, God’s kingdom is rapidly expanding. Satan is a defeated foe. One day Jesus will return to gather believers into the eternal kingdom and to judge nonbelievers.

Heather also includes her own testimony throughout the book. The Points to Ponder at the end of each chapter serve as devotional aids. A timeline, maps, and index help in Bible study.

 

The other book I received for review was God's Unfolding Story of Salvation. This is a Christ-Centered Biblical Storyline you won't want to miss. This is a Bible Study broken down into 38 Lessons that have you diving into the meat of Scripture. "No one can appreciate the size or shape of a forest without flying over top to view the big picture. The Bible is like a forest and individual books are similar to tress. Studying small portions of Scripture is worthwile and necessary. Nevertheless one of the first steps of discipleship after salvation should be an understanding of the big picture of the Bible."

Each Lesson is broken down into Scripture reading, questions, Reflection, and a Summary. The questions are thorough and thought provoking.

Description:

No one can appreciate the size or shape of a forest without flying over top of it to view the big picture. The Bible is like a forest and individual books are similar to trees. Studying small portions of Scripture is worthwhile and necessary. Nevertheless one of the first steps of discipleship after salvation should be an understanding of the big picture in the Bible. God’s Unfolding Story of Salvation will teach believers that the biblical storyline is Christ-centered.

Often people think of redemptive history only in terms of its promises in the Old Testament and its fulfillment in the New Testament. There is much more to the story than that. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit also points to Christ through preparation for his birth, pictures or types, and anticipation. Since God’s story ultimately affects each one of us, it is worth the time and effort required to understand it. If you do this, you will discover a pearl of great value. Forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God are the greatest needs of everyone past, present, and future. This redemption story brings glory to God and benefits believers.

 

Both of these books are recommended by me without hesitation. They are useful for instruction and to further your journey in learning God's Word and God better. You can purchase them Here, A Tale of Two Kingdoms is $23 and God's Unfolding Story of Salvation is $22. Visit Heather's website Here or her Blog Here.

To find out what other reviewers thought of these wonderful books head on over to Mosaic Reviews and check them out Here!

 

 

My Little Pony:Party of One App Review

Sing with me..."My Little Pony, My Little Pony..."

Educational apps are just about the best thing around. They are fun but still teach something. You can't beat that! What makes them even better is if they are familiar characters that my kids already love. That's why My Little Pony:Party of One from PlayDate Digital has been such a hit in our house. We have loved My Little Pony for many years now and I foresee it continuing long into our future.

My Little Pony:Party of One App is the My Little Ponies you have come to love telling a story all kids can relate to. This app is interactive and has many items to explore. Your child can choose to read the story for themsleves or have the app read it to them.

This is a sweet app that your kids will love. I know mine have. I tried to get a picture of the 3yo playing with it but she was always too excited to sit still for the picture! This app is available for ipad, iphone, and ipods and can be purchased for $2.99. The ages for the app are stated at being 0-5 years old but my 8yo had a blast with it and my 11yo 'just had' to go through the book one full time 'just to check it out!'

I played with the app myself and found that I enjoyed touching the horses or objects and finding out what they were going to do or say! It's like a digital pop-up book. You and your children will love this app. The colors are bright, the graphics are great, and the characters you already love are in it. How can it get much better than that?

About the App: My Little Pony: Party of One is an interactive storybook app. It is based on a favorite My Little Pony TV episode and adapted for a preschool audience. It teaches kids social emotional values -- friendship, trust and belonging. It was developed in partnership with educational experts. Here is the app description and our learning goals:

Description: Get ready for an adventure with Pinkie Pie and her friends in MY LITTLE PONY, Party of One, an intriguing new interactive tale about the magic of friendship. Who throws better parties than Pinkie Pie? Having just finished one celebration, Pinkie Pie sets off to invite all of her favorite ponies to a NEW party, but suddenly every pony seems to be QUITE busy. What’s going on? Join the investigation as Pinkie Pie visits her My Little Pony friends looking for clues. Bold graphics, bright colors and lots of animations make Party of One an enjoyable and engaging way to be entertained and practice reading skills. Perfect for My Little Pony fans and beginning readers.

Key Features:

Your favorite ponies are here: PINKIE PIE, RAINBOW DASH, FLUTTERSHY, APPLEJACK, TWILIGHT SPARKLE and more!

Featuring the official voice of PINKIE PIE from the show FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC

Watch the characters animate in playful moments during every story spread

17 scenes that come to life as children tap and explore each page.

Tap on the ponies to move the adventure forward

Highlighted words to help test and build age-appropriate vocabulary

Word round-up to reinforce learning goals

Parents can track children’s learning progress

LEARNING GOALS:

Everyone wants to belong. MY LITTLE PONY Party of One uses thoughtful language and lively scenes to gently help children to understand their feelings about friendship membership, tensions and misunderstandings.

Practice reading skills

Introduces new vocabulary words

Test problem solving skills

Social Emotional skills

Social skills may be reinforced by parents and children reading together and discussing:

· Seeing things from someone else’s perspective

· Understanding the dilemma that both the ponies and Pinkie Pie are facing

· Developing empathy for both Pinkie Pie and her friends.

· Learning how to maintain supportive and honest friendships

· Understanding the importance of communication and learning

 

Find them here:

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

You can watch a video here:

http://youtu.be/QlBCgIul_9U

If you want to see what other reviewers thought of My Little Pony: Party of One App, head over to Mosaic Reviews and check them out!

 

See the Light Art Projects-Dreams of Joseph Review-Mosaic Reviews

 

It is no secret that we are not really artists. I can barely draw stick figures, a few of the girls can draw a few things; but we are pretty inept when it comes to real painting. I wish we could but it just might never happen.

However, See the Light Art Projects might help us get a little better at it!

I was a little wary of this review just because we are so bad at art but was kind of excited to try as well. We were going to give it our all no matter what. The disc we received was The Dreams of Joseph. We loved it.

Here is a little about it:

Dreams of Joseph

In the style of Marc Chagall!

Watch and Produce Your Own Masterpiece

in 4 Step-By-Step Lessons with Master Artist Pat Knepley!

DREAMS OF JOSEPH is the sixth in a series of ART PROJECTS that advance skills and learning as students complete wonderful works of art in the style of a variety of famous artists.

DREAMS OF JOSEPH includes an in-depth Art History focus on the style of Marc Chagall, explores related Art Elements and Art Principles, and uses a variety of media. Biblical integration is woven into every single lesson!

DREAMS OF JOSEPH is geared for ages 10 +. The 4 lesson DVD runs approximately 1 ½ hours, but the student should allow approximately 3 to 4 hours to complete this fabulous work of art!

Synopsis of each lesson:

1. Outline Key Elements in Black (29 minutes)

2. Paint the Background (33 minutes)

3. Paint Joseph's Colorful Robe (22 minutes)

4. Finish Your Painting with Joseph's Dream Details (24 minutes)

But this description doesn't do it justice. I have always thought that Art History was a little boring and would check out when teachers would start in on it. Sad but true. Not with See the Light. Pat has a way of integrating Chagall history in an interesting way that makes it relevant to today and keeps the viewer waiting for more. I was so intrigued with learning about Chagall life that I didn't realize we were learning Art History until the first session was over! We all were remembering and talking about the different aspects of his life and some of the paintings Pat showed us. Plus, we had the black-line beginning of our painting.

We were all pretty thrilled with what we saw already.

We kept watching the videos and added to our paintings. We had a glorious time painting and learning together. I did include all of my children in this; but only the 8yo, 11yo, 14yo, and 15yo's painted. But the 3yo was completely mezmorized with Pat and the paintings on the videos.

We laughed our way through our struggle to recreate what Pat was working us through. The instructions were clear and really easy to follow-if we could you can-and each process was step by step. It really couldn't have been any easier to follow unless Pat was to come to our house and do it for us! We just had a great time learning to paint this picture.

We were thrilled that we ended up with paintings when we were finished. Plus, we learned aobut Chagall's life, paintings, and more about the Bible story of Joseph. Pat weaves the Bible into each session in a natural way that makes you want to read the stories again.

I was very impressed with See the Light Art Projects. The quality is outstanding and is well worth the $14.99 for this disc. You can purchase each Project individually or in a set for High School Credit for $99. Head over HERE to see all the wonderful products See the Light has to offer.

Want to see our final projects?

 

A little about See the Light:

With a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, a heart for children, and a passion for ministry, Dave and Pat Holt bring you the SEE THE LIGHTteam:

ARTISTS with specialties that include teaching a large variety of techniques, art history, chalk artistry, performance art, gospel chalk art (with black light), crafts, creative lettering, and more;
MUSICIANS whose talents include songwriting, musical performance, arranging, and producing. The SEE THE LIGHT team is dedicated to bringing scripture and biblical principles to viewers in a fresh, engaging way. . . and promising to teach some exciting art skills along the way!

 

Head over to Mosaic Reviews to see what other reviewers thought of this great product. And head over to See the Light and check out all the amazing products they offer.

 

 

A Light for My Path Mosaic Reviews

 

As most of you probably know, I love books. I reall love books. Especially books that are uplifting and appropriate for my whole family. But, an even better book would be one that uses God's Word for teaching my little ones.

A Light for my Path by Davis Carman is just such a book. It is put out by Apologia and it is an ABC book based on Psalm 119 and it is so sweet. It is a precious way to teach your children the alphabet while instilling a love and reverance for God's Word. At the beginning of the book is an introduction that helps parents understand the way the book was written and ideas to help you foster a learning time with your kids.

There is also a section in the back that will help your children learn the Hebrew alphabet. "Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem, a literary composition in which the writer uses the letters of a word or alphabet as the intial letters for a series of lilnes or stanzas. This particular poem is divided into twenty-two stanzas, one for each letter in the Hebrew alphabet." You can have fun learning Hebrew and reading the Psalm that goes with it. It is a gentle approach to learning that is a good fit with pre-schoolers.

Here is my own alphabet about this book:

A-Amazing

B-Beautiful

C-Clever

D-Durable

E-Excellent

F-Forever(God's Word is forever)

G-Gracious

H-Happy

I-Irreplacable

J-Just

K-Keeper

L-Lovely

M-Mommy and me time

N-Never Alone

O-Original

P-Perfect

Q-Questions answered

R-Reflective

S-Searching

T-Time

U-Understanding

V-Very Helpful

W-Wonderful

X-Excellent!

Y-Yearning

Z-Zoo

You can buy your own copy of this precious book for $14.00 at the Apologia website. It is a soft-bound book with a durable cover and thicker pages to stand up to little hands turning it. This will be a book you go to over and over for that snuggle time with your little ones.

You can also check out their social media pages!

• Website
• Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest

To find out what other Mosaic Reviewers thought of this sweet book, head over to Mosaic Reviews and check them out!

 

Teen Coder C# Homeschool Programming Mosaic Reviews

 

It's probably no mystery that I am not the most proficient at computer things. See? I don't even know what to call them! I can do only very basic things and only after someone has labored to teach me with countless mistakes. I learn slowly. Very slowly.

Computer programming was not something I ever really thought of doing but always thought it would be neat if my kids knew how to do it. But how do you teach something this technical if you don't know it yourself?

You find someone to do it for you! Or a curriculum to teach it for you anyway. With this latest review we were able to review a curriculum that does just that. Teen Coder Homeschool Programming teaches your kids how to do programming for Windows and Games. I can't even imagine!

I really wanted this for my high schoolers but they had too much work at the beginning of the year to be add one more thing but my 11yo desperately wanted to try it. It is a high school class so I wasn't sure if she would be able to figure it out. She in honors math-6th grade doing Honors Pre-Algebra and doing two sciences courses this year so she is motivated and smart enough!

I still wasn't sure though.

For Mosaic Reviews we were given the course materials to download the curriculum and that challenged me almost to the breaking point. ugh I told you I'm not computer saavy. I clicked the link to download everything and it went to a zip file.

Okay, I can do this. I really can. I won't panic and I will read all of the pop-ups to make sure I know what they say. I won't download it only to lose it to a saved file I didn't look at the destination for. I will remember...I will remember...

Whew! The file unzipped and I remembered where it said it was saving it to. I was so pleased with myself. I felt accomplished and oh so smart. Maybe I would take this course after all!

I should have known it was too good to be true.

Once the files were saved and I found them again I opened them to get the program started. Umm, am I supposed to know what to do now? I opened all the files to see what they all were and finally calmed down enough to read what I was seeing. One of the files I opened had more files to download with pdf files for instructions. Praise God for those pdf files! I kept them open on the desktop and clicked back and forth between the two the entire time I was downloading things.

I got the Student Files and Solution Files downloaded and was breathing a sigh of relief. I opened them to familiarize myself with them and saw the Student Book in there. Another shout of praise went up as I saw the Student book was printable and had detailed instructions for the daily activities. Woohoo!

I set up the printer and started looking for other things to discover. Then the printer decided it was too tired to work and just stopped. No reason. So not cool. I couldn't turn it off or hit the reset button because the 252 page book was only 1/3 of the way printed. Deep breathing helped keep everyone alive. I really think it was just tired because it started working on its own until it got a paper jam. Twice. Seriously.

After about two hours I got it to complete the print job and didn't care that it was only one sided. It was done. And we were ready to begin for real this time.

Only our main computer locked up when trying to download part of the software we needed to do the class. I was just about to give up and just write an informational review but Hannah kept begging me to keep trying. I canceled the process and started it again. It kept trying for 28 hours. My husband finally told me to stop. Sigh. Then, Hannah had a brilliant idea. Try your laptop! Well, it couldn't hurt could it?

I pulled out my laptop and went through the process again and this time it was surprisingly simple. Everything worked the first time. The files all opened and everything was where it should have been. Woohoo! We 3-hole punched the Student Book put it in a binder and started up the first lesson.

Can you say foreign language? I honestly couldn't understand much of what I saw but Hannah was devouring it. She read the entire first three chapters and was ready to start on the computer. She followed the instructions for the first Activity and couldn't get it to work. It was supposed to have a page pop up on the screen with the words Hello, Form. We just couldn't get it to work. We will frustrated. We quit for the day.

The next day she came back to it and remembered the steps to do it again and tried it. This time it worked! She was thrilled and was ready to plow ahead. She breezed through the next Activity and was able to do all the items they asked. She changed the color on the page, changed the font, put a button on the page, and a few other things. It is pretty cool. And she feels like she accomplished something.

She is going to love this program and learn so much from it. It is really great. But enough about us, here is some information about this program.

Here is some information abut Homeschool Programming, Inc:

Our courses are self-study and can be completed on the student's own computer, at their own pace. You can steer your student in the right direction with no prior programming knowledge. Students only need typical computer usage skills to start; we will teach them programming from the ground up!

Each course comes with student activity starters, supplementary instructional documents, a Solution Guide, fully coded solutions for all activities, tests and answer keys, and guidance on evaluating projects.

Most questions about how to code individual activities are easily answered by referring to the Solution Guide (with or without parental involvement). We also provide free technical support to assist with any aspect of the courses!

Teachers who wish to closely monitor and grade student progress for credit purposes can administer chapter tests which are provided (with answer keys). We also provide advice and guidelines for evaluating student activities.

And here is some information about the TeenCoder we reviewed:

Our TeenCoder C# computer science courses for high school teens are listed below! Each course is roughly one semester long depending on the student pace.

The TeenCoder C# programming courses are designed for 9th-12th gradestudents who may be interested in computer science as a career, hobby, or who may need a computer course for high school graduation. Build your school transcript with a high quality technical elective that is easily recognized by college professors.

The TeenCoder C# Series uses the free Visual C# 2010 Express development environment. Each course maintains the same fun, easy-to-learn style as ourKidCoder series but cover more computer science topics in depth.

Microsoft's latest generation programming language, C#, is commonly used in business and academic settings. Students will learn with a free version of the industry standard Microsoft Visual Studio development environment that C# programming job applicants should know when starting a software career.

Each chapter explains a programming concept in detail with corresponding sample code. In hands-on activities for each chapter the student will write their own programs based on the chapter topics. Students are encouraged to be creative and personalize their programming projects!

Optional Instructional Videos!

We offer optional Instructional Videos for each course, perfect for your audio-visual learner! These videos do not replace the Student Textbook, but they do re-inforce every chapter and lesson in a fun, animated manner. We cover the same conceptual topics using different examples and, in some cases, screen recordings of a real programmer accomplishing a task within the development environment.

This is a great program and I am so glad we were able to review it. If you would like to buy one of these packages for yourself Here are the prices for the program we used:

$130.00

TeenCoder: C# Year Pack (Courses Only)

$155.00 TeenCoder: C# Year Pack (Courses & Videos)

$30.00

TeenCoder: C# Year Pack (Videos Only)

Homeschool Programming, Inc. offers programming for all ages. They have KidCoder Visual Basics and Web Series as well as TeenCoder Java Series. Each program can be bought individually or as a package. Check out this page to see all the programs and check out the prices. The TeenCoder series is a high school credit class for 9th-12th grades with each semester being .5 credits.

To find out what other reviewers over at Mosaic Reviews thought head on over there and check them out!