It's time once again, as the Homeschool Review Crew year comes to a close, to choose our Redhanded Homeschool's High Fives for 2017. I can't believe another year is behind us. There were about 75 vendor "runs" this year. My family reviewed 47 products to share with you. Plus two single reviews for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
For the 2017 Homeschool Review Crew Blue Ribbon Awards, voting is very difficult in some categories. We must choose *just one* vendor or product in each of the Crew's categories. I've relaxed that rule for my blog. 'Cuz it's my blog, natch! So where the punks or I loved more than one thing, I'm giving them all High Fives.
As usual, there are old favorites, new treasures, and things I've "had my eye on" for someday. These favorites are all products that I would, actually have, or might again really pay money for it. I think it's important that you can trust that when I tell you we absolutely loved something, I really mean it was *that good*.
Malachi's High Five
Carole P. Roman. We really like her If You Were Me and Lived In... series, but Mal especially enjoyed our first fiction book from Carole, Oh, Susannah: It's in the Bag. Actually, they all did and we have since read the second book and they're hoping for more. The reading level is a bit below the older punks, but they love the stories, just for fun.
Xavier's High Five
First, Xav tried to choose Stopmotion Explosion again. I told him he had to stick to products we reviewed in 2017, so he voted for The Brinkman Adventures - season 4 (see Merrick's High Five below).
Merrick's High Five
The Brinkman Adventures - season 4. The Crew reviewed season 2 in 2014. Since then, I've purchased seasons 1 and 3. These fictionalized versions of real life missionary stories are always a hit. They have a curriculum out for season 1 that I want to check out at some point, too.
My High Five for Moms
Homeschool Rescue from Only Passionate Curiosity. I only managed to get through part of the program during the review period. Now, I'll have a bit more time and I intend to finish it through once. Then I want to work through it once each year to update our homeschool plan.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is way more than just classes for the kids, though it certainly is that. We've used this off and on since, I think 2011, when it started. Back in those "olden days" if you had a subscription to the print Old Schoolhouse Magazine, you were given SchoolhouseTeachers.com access until your subscription ran out. I had over a year of it. About a year after it expired, I won another year in 2013. In 2014, 2016, and 2017 I received access as a reviewer for the Homeschool Review Crew. Hey, we're all family. :) I have decided to not return to the Crew in 2018 for various reasons, so I purchased two years during the BOGO sale last week.
These curriculum favorites are products we are still using, have completed this year, or will continue to use in 2018 and beyond.
Language Arts High Fives
Crafty Classroom's Learn to R.E.A.D. program - Merrick loves having his own school stuff that no one else does and the notebooking pages are so much fun for a Kinder.
Channie's Handwriting and Math Workbooks - I only reviewed the one handwriting workbook for littles, but I liked it so much, I ordered handwriting journals for the bigger littles and several math workbooks.
Reading Eggs - We've had Reading Eggs before. I liked it so much, I was willing to pay for it when the bigger punks were littler. Now Mal and Merrick are happily using it. Merrick also likes to dabble in MathSeeds, though it placed him lower than I thought he should be. I consider MathSeeds "just for fun" school.
Math High Fives
CTCMath. Always. And it's now a complete math curriculum for grades K-12. Another curriculum I have happily paid for and will again.
Science High Fives
Think Like an Engineer from Innovators Tribe is so much fun with all the hands on challenges. I love that we are encouraged to include the whole family in this subscription.
Social Studies High Fives
Drive Thru History - The Gospels. The Drive Thru History series is fantastic. We're also using the American History videos for part of Xav and Mal's history this year.
Heirloom Audio ~ In the Reign of Terror and Captain Bayley's Heir. While I have reviewed other Heirloom Audio titles for the Crew, I have also purchased copies of other titles in the series. These audio dramas are crazy good.
Extra-Curricular High Fives
Creating a Masterpiece. I wish we had been able to fit more of Sharon's lessons in before our subscription expired, but we really enjoyed learning how to make real art while we had it.
Doctor Aviation with Daryl Smith. This one expires pretty soon and we enjoyed it a lot, though we didn't get through as much as we would have liked.
My Bonus High Fives
Lamplighter's The Secret Bridge. While this wasn't the best book I ever read, I enjoyed it and it opened up a whole new world of literature for us. Since this review, we toured the Lamplighter Ministries Book Bindery and purchased five or six more books and three audio dramas. I especially recommend Sir Malcom and the Missing Prince and Teddy's Button.
Northern Speech Services' Color My Conversation was one of those "didn't know I needed" kind of curriculum. We did set this aside, but will be picking it back up and starting over after the holidays.
Check out the *Official* Homeschool Review Crew Blue Ribbon Award winners and look in the Linky to read about my Crew Mates' family favorites.
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