Redhanded Homeschool High Fives ~ Our 2017 Crew Favorites

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.

Innovators Tribe ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

When Innovators Tribe showed up in the upcoming vendor list for the Crew, I sent Dad the link and asked if he thought Xav would be able to use the course in any meaningful way.  Xav's my STEM guy.  Well, minus the "M" - math.  He loves experiments and hands on work.  Thinking Like an Engineer looked like something right up his alley.  Dad said he thought Xav could do it, but he knew he would definitely LOVE the course.  Wayne Kroeplin's (Mr. K) courses are for grades 6-12 with some wiggle room.  My punks are in 5th and 6th grade, but math is a struggle.  *So far* math hasn't been an issue at all.  They haven't needed it for anything.  Not even to succeed in the challenges.  The best part about this class is that you are *encouraged* to invite everyone in the family to participate *together*.  This has given us some fun memories of supporting and working alongside each other.  (And believe me, those moments are few and far between.  We seem to be in a very competitive stage.)

Thinking Like an Engineer is a pre-recorded online course.  Pacing is decided by you and your family.  We took a pretty leisurely pace and generally watched one lesson or completed one challenge each week.  Certainly, your students could work at a faster pace.  I think a video/slide show lesson plus a challenge (or more!) in the same week is completely doable.  At one lesson and one challenge, you would spend about 2-3 hours on the course for the week.

Each unit has a "journal" to fill in with the information found in the videos, sort of a guided notetaking page.  The lessons also have assignments.  We've had various amounts of success with the journals and assignments.  One assignment is learning about an engineer that is involved *somewhere* with a topic in which the students are interested.  Well, Mal is only interested one kind of "engineer" and that's a *train* engineer.  I have directed him to transportation engineers and we've looked up how engineering is used in the design of trains and railways.  It isn't quite the same, but he was willing to learn a bit about it.  Xav was interested in engineering as it applies to Lego toys.  While we found listings for job openings in engineering for Lego, they were in a foreign language.  Most of what we found was about designing Lego sets.  So, the researching engineers part didn't go great for us, it was good practice at online researching and we did learn a bit.


The units include:

• Intro to Engineering
• Intro to 3D Design
• Engineering Rollercoasters
• Engineering Bridges
• Nano Engineering
• Thinking Like an Engineer - Course Conclusion

I thought I'd tell you about some of our favorite activities and challenges to give you a feel for the course.  Lesson 3 is called Engineering Clean Water.  While I watched the lesson and the associated outside videos, I remembered the PlayPump.  Does anyone else recall the water pump that was run by children playing on a Merry-Go-Round?  I always thought that was genius.  Unfortunately, when I looked it up recently, I found out it didn't end very well, for the most part.  Throughout the Thinking Like an Engineer course, we were encouraged to be innovators and try new things.  Even though the PlayPump doesn't work well in all situations, it was definitely innovative.

In lesson 4, you receive the 3D Design software that you will use to create bridges and roller coasters.  We aren't using this yet (so close), but I know Xav especially is going to love it.  He eats that kind of thing right up!

The challenges have been a blast!  Some times we don't handle failure very well, When we have worked on the challenges, there has been an "Oh, rats!" or three, but no one has been angry about starting over and rethinking the processes.  We have had so much fun completing these tasks together.

Our first hands on challenge was to try to construct towers using regular copy paper.  Well, the punks were a bit disappointed, because Mr. K said some students had built their towers a couple feet taller than they did.

His class also stacked more books than we did in the second challenge.  We used one sheet of paper and had two feet of masking tape for this challenge.  We tried fan folding, circles, and concentric circles.

This happened a lot.

 And this.

But through all the challenges we faced, we brainstormed our way through to make the best of the assignment and to figure out what we could do differently or better to improve our results.  Eventually, we got to this.

If I had made just three or maybe four rings, even though they were super tiny, I would have had more stability and been able to stack books higher.

Our third challenge was creating a crude water filter using information from an Environmental Protection Agency video.  We didn't complete that challenge here at home, because a class in our co-op recently did this.  (Hmmm... As co-op yearbook creator, I thought I had taken a picture of that lesson, but it appears I did not.) 

The one thing I really wished for was the "solution" to the challenges.  How did Mr. K's class get 200 POUNDS of books on the single sheet of paper?  HOW?  I need to know!  Maybe gEEk Dad can tell me.  The punks and I absolutely love the hands on quality of the coursework and they really like the videos.  They've learned a lot of information seemingly unrelated to engineering.  I think they especially liked the clean water challenge and we could tell that it was an important problem to Mr. K.

I also enrolled in the free Think Like an Innovator course.  I think the punks are going to like it, too!  Mr. K offers another course, Thinking Like an Architect, also for grades 6-12.  Some of my CrewMates reviewed that as well.  So please click below to read some of the other reviews.

Steamtown Part 1 ~ Field Trip Friday {AKA V is for Vacation}

A couple of weeks ago (or way more now!), I told you about the trip we took to Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, NY.  While we really enjoyed seeing April the Giraffe, Oliver, and Tajiri, and the other animals, the main vacation destination was Steamtown in Scranton, PA.  I may have mentioned a time or two that the punks [warning: understatement ahead] like trains.  Dad planned the whole trip as a surprise.  And happily, Xav is a fourth grader and Steamtown is managed by the National Park Service.  That means we all received FREE admission through the Every Kid in a Park program.  Truthfully, admission isn't that high anyway.  The entrance fee was, surprisingly, only $7 per person for ages 16+.  Extra charges applied only to the Scranton Limited train ride which was $5 each, ages 6+.

Today, I'm just sharing the basics for this destination.  There was FAR too much to cover in one post.

First, we drove to Scranton on the 4th of July.  It was not as terrible as you might imagine and that was probably due to the fact it was a Tuesday.  We stayed at a hotel with a pool and that is basically enough to keep the boys happy.   HOWEVER, we were able to see multiple firework shows throughout the town from both the pool and our room.

The punks didn't actually know in advance where we would be going.  We told them before bed that night and, let's just say the response left a lot to be desired.  They were so "meh" about the whole thing.  All I did was hope they would be way more excited when they actually got it.  Merrick also got a little surprise that night.  He got a cute little indoor tent in which to spend the night.  Three boys in a queen size bed is a no go.  Two in the same bed leads to plenty of kicking, pushing, and growling until sleep is finally reached.

In the morning, we had breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts just down the road, then we headed straight to Steamtown.  I wish I had a video of the punks' reactions!  My preteen boys, literally, squee-ed when they got the first glimpse in the parking lot.  "It's the Big Boy, the Union Pacific Big Boy!"  Sadly, I thought the Big Boy was in pretty rough shape.  The boys thought it was the most incredible thing they'd ever seen.  Maybe it was... so far!

We didn't stay outside for long, though.  We had a train to catch!  Xav got his official "every kid in a park" card, we paid for our train tickets and headed inside.  We didn't have long to wait for our train ride and since that was almost the first thing we did there, I'm including it here.  Everything else we did will be in next week's Steamtown Part 2 post.

First, let me tell you, I was *shocked* to learn that, until the 1980s, Steamtown was located in Vermont!  Then the funniest thing happened.  Our guide turned out to be from Vermont and, until a few years ago, worked for the same company Daddy did.  Small world.

This is what happens when you wait too long to write up your post, you forget details.  I could research these details, but since I'm not finding them quickly, I'm just going to have to let them go.  *tries not to sing*  You can thank me later.  Anyway, we learned about the family who ran the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.  This was one of the earliest rail lines in northeastern Pennsylvania.

This Ramada Inn used to be the Train Station.  We didn't go inside, but did see some pictures online.  The family certainly believed in doing things up lavish-like.

We need a Part 2 post because I took so many pictures of our day, it wasn't even funny, but I knew I'd need them for the Train class at our co-op.  *justifies*



Homeschool Discount -Discount for 4th graders and their families, but not for homeschoolers specifically.  Reasonably priced, either way.
Educational - History, Science, Technology, Art, Math (in the gift shop!)
Family Oriented - Yes.
Duration of Visit - 6 hours+.

Crazy Contraptions Co-op Class (I promise, no more intentional alliteration.)

Dad taught a class this past year at our co-op called Crazy Contraptions.  How our co-op works is that right after we finish the school year, each family completes an end of year survey.  One of the sections on the form asks what the students would be interested in learning about and what classes the parents would be interested in teaching the following year.  Those suggestions are turned into a prospective class list and sent back out to families for a first round of voting, each child choosing up to five courses.  That's the step we are at right now.  Soon, we'll get the second round and will probably have to choose a top three.  I do admit, there has been a time or two I've pretended I couldn't count and selected four classes for a kid.  That usually happens when one of the older punks really wants to choose a class, I'd rather they not take.  I include their list and my preference with an explanation.

Anyhoo, an unsuspecting parent is sometimes asked to teach an instructorless class.  Enter, Micah.  LOL  In the end, the students in the class ended up being younger than anticipated (he had ten boys twelve and younger), so the projects became a bit easier after the first one.  Here are some of the Crazy Contraptions the boys ended up making.

A walking robot thingy.

A do nothing box thingy.

A working catapult.

Rube Goldberg machines.

Paper and duct tape rockets.

Hovercraft.

They also made the rattlesnake egg pranks (remember those?).  The boys were so excited the next time we met to tell us all about who they frightened.  And Micah took in a Jacob's ladder he made.

Mrs. A and I helped with class almost every week.  We also invited Mrs. M, Mrs. P, Mr. R, and Mr. C to help out once or thrice (the punks are loving that word lately).   Co-op is a great example of gaining knowledge for our kiddos from people outside of our home (though, in this case, it was Dad).

What are some ways you share your talents with others or borrow from other adults and older kiddos for your children?

gEEk School ~ Marshmallow Shooter

Xav was gifted with this terrifically fun marshmallow shooter.  It was a snap to assemble and is a huge hit.  Xav and Merrick particularly enjoyed it and their laughter was contagious.

You need just five pieces of PVC pipe.

• Two inch
• Five inch
• Seven inch
• Two 90* elbows

Add in some marshmallows and a target.  We also found that the small craft pompoms worked OK, too.

I'm sorry, I don't know where this particular target came from, but you can use or make any target.  Three dimensional targets are fun, too.  Set up paper towel and toilet paper tubes and knock them over with your marshmallow projectiles.

Super easy assembly, as shown above.  Pop the marshmallow in the end of the 5" piece, which is also the end you blow in.  I'd guess the elbow joints tend to slow your projectile down a bit.  With the boys in this house, slowing them down is definitely a plus!

It wouldn't be a great project in this house unless some alterations were made to the design.  "Just this once." 

Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronoomy, 2nd edition TOS Review

Exploring Creation

Apologia Educational Ministries has released their new Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition set and we got to review it!  I had already been through Apologia's previous Astronomy course with the bigger littles a few years ago.  I liked it very much and we had so much fun with the experiments and activities.  Unfortunately, the information had become outdated.  Many of the things we read *would* be happening had already occurred when we went through the textbook and Jr. Notebooking Journals.  It was, after all, written twelve years ago.

What we received.

• Student Text
• Notebooking Journal
• Jr. Notebooking Journal
• Audio CD

What's different?
I still have our old textbook and journals because I fully intended to go through Exploring Creation with Astronomy with Merrick for his first grade science next year.  I even purchased the previous version of the Jr. Notebooking Journal for him because I felt I couldn't justify the purchase of a new textbook for just one more kiddo.  How wrong I was!  Of course the information in the textbook is all updated, but the text and pictures are much more readable and attractive, too.

Student Text

Look at that spiffy new book!
Like the other titles in the Exploring Creation science series, the Student Text is a sturdy hardcover.  It is 216 pages long.  The corresponding Notebooking Journals, Science Kit, and Audio Book are each sold separately.  But the Super Secret Code to access online extras is included in the book introduction.  The course website has links to nearly 200 related websites, all listed with the lesson they relate to.

These are comparisons of the new (l) and old (r) text on corresponding pages.

Each of the 14 lessons is divided into several sections, activities, Wisdom from Above passages, Think About This boxes, and What Do You Remember? summaries.  You'll also find a symbol in the pages of the text which indicates an activity in the Science Kit.

The lesson topics include

• an overview of astronomy, 
• the sun, 
• each of the eight planets, 
• Earth's Moon, 
• space rocks, 
• the Kuiper belt and dwarf planets, 
• and stars, galaxies, and space travel.

The Jr. Notebooking Journal (grades K-2/3) and the Notebooking Journal (grades 3/4-6) are *huge* soft cover journals (336 pages each) for recording all of the information covered in each lesson.  They are spiral bound so they lay flat or can be folded over on themselves.  These make a wonderful keepsake to look back on all that's been learned and can be proudly shown to family members.  I still have both of the bigger littles' Jr. Notebooks, so I was able to compare them with the new Jr. Notebooks.  If you're familiar at all with notebooking or lapbooking, many of the projects will be recognizable to you.  Students will cut out and assemble mini books, complete crossword puzzles, write copywork, record what they learned from activities (dictation is completely acceptable), and even color pictures in the Jr. Notebooking Journal.

The regular Notebooking Journal does not have coloring pages, seems to go deeper into some of the lesson content, and has smaller lines to write upon.  This was actually my first look at the regular journal and I was pleased to see how closely the lessons and activities tended to run the same or very similar.  While my bigger boys won't be doing astronomy with Merrick, there will be other years that I'll be keeping them all on the same subject.

The photos above show a comparison of the new and old versions of the Jr. Notebooking Journals.  The sun lesson, in which Merrick also drew all of the planets, is shown next to the old sun mini book page.  Next to that is the new version of the solar eclipse booklet in the old page.  The last photo shows the difference between pages for a later lesson on space rocks.  The previous version had only been a page of boxes to write and draw in.  The difference is tremendous.

Here's Merrick showing off his newly developed cutting abilities to make his sun wheel mini book.

All journals are consumable, and each is intended to be used by a single student.  This is one of those times I have no qualms about providing one for each child.  They have so much fun using these.  In fact, Xavier volunteered to work on the regular notebook for me and has been thrilled to complete activities with Merrick even though he has already covered this material and has his own science lessons to complete!

The journal lists a suggested daily schedule that breaks each lesson into four to seven assignments.  Completing two assignments per week will give you a full year course.  We school year round and I tend to break those assignments down even a bit more, to keep the sitting parts to a minimum for the littles.  We generally will still complete one Apologia science in a calendar year.

Audio CD
The audio book is read by Jeannie Fulbright, the author.  She has the sweetest voice and the boys love listening to her.  You can pop the CD into a computer and listen to the MP3 tracks or load them onto your phone's music player.  Some CD players will work, but I couldn't change tracks on mine.  I didn't mind if we hear the CD intro a couple of times, but I wouldn't care to start at the beginning each time we used the CD with the text.  Using a laptop wasn't a great option, as the kids have several online school programs and that would tie up the computer that someone else could be using.  The text is read nearly word for word, so a decent reader could follow right along in the text.

Experiments and Activities
These are found throughout the text and are labeled by chapter and a number.  For example, 2.2 Using a Magnifying Glass to Focus Heat (aka melting chocolate and butter) means it is the second lesson and second activity.

This experiment was fun *and* yummy.  Who doesn't love that?  We wanted to see how chocolate and butter reacted to exposure to the sun. It was super hot and windy that day.  We had to place rocks on the plates to keep them from blowing away.  Don't worry, we didn't try to melt them.  Photo one shows things just melting naturally. The chocolate did not look melted, but the boys were surprised to discover it was.  In the center photo, we used the magnifying glass to really direct the sunlight into a very small area on the food.  We were shocked when the chocolate actually started to smoke!  We even burned a small black spot into this square of chocolate (and the porch) with this technique.  The final photo shows a large dot magnification.  This concentrates the sun a bit less, so it took longer and, once again, the chocolate barely looked melted until curious fingers poked it.

This was also a *great* lesson about not looking at the sun!

Be careful!  You really can set things on fire with a magnifying glass!  Oops!

We had this sundial in a space kit we own.  While studying lesson one's Clocks, Calendars, and Seasons, it felt like a good time to get it out.

Here's Merrick demonstrating Earth revolving around the sun.  The funny thing about this was that he acquired these important science tools at the fair!  I've found that we can often use everyday items to reinforce our lessons.  One thing the text regularly asks of students is to tell someone what they have learned.  It helps make the lesson stick.  And Merrick loves to tell and teach!

I've said this before and I'm sure I will say it again, I've never used an Apologia product I didn't really love.  There are so many other courses on my wishlist.  They're a favorite Christian homeschool publisher.  Go explore the farthest reaches of space with your little astronaut!

Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy is for grades K-6.
The Notebooking Journal is for grades 3-6.
The Jr. Notebooking Journal is for grades K-3.
If your student is somewhere in the transition age, I recommend checking the website for the journal samples to choose the right journal on an individual basis.


The Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy Science Kit has just been released and it's 15% off through midnight Friday night, September 9, 2016.  The kit contains the things you'll need for the 42 activities in the textbook plus an additional 21 activities.

Another recommended resource for Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy homeschool science curriculum is the Field Trip Journal.  Some of The Crew have reviewed it previously.


Find Apologia on social media.
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Twitter  @apologiaworld
Pinterest
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Forbrain TOS Review

Forbrain – Sound For Life Ltd's bone conduction headset came along at just the right time for our family.  Two of the Littles have been dealing with assessments for speech issues.  It's amazing to me how slowly these balls get rolling sometimes.  Merrick and Xav are both struggling with pronunciation skills and Xav has a stutter.  It's frustrating for them to not be understood and, as they get older, I think the trouble is amplified.

Forbrain can help improve:

• attention
• concentration
• reading and writing
• short-term memory
• pronunciation and fluency
• self-confidence 
  

What is Forbrain?

Forbrain is a bone conduction headset that is worn while speaking aloud.  The headset is worn on the back of your head and over your ears.  The circular pads sit on your head in front of your ears, on the jawbone.  You speak into a microphone which transmits to the patented dynamic filter.  The filter blocks out ambient noise and isolates your voice.  It boosts some sounds and uses vibration of bone to enhance what you are hearing.  The hearer's awareness of their own voice increases.

I admit to being a hopeful skeptic, but I have a friend who actually is a bio-psych professor/researcher.  She reassured me the science is there and Forbrain could potentially help all of my kiddos with various issues. I also had questions regarding Forbrain's use with tinnitus and stuttering, because I experience one and Xav the other.  I didn't expect it to relieve my tinnitus, but I had hopes about the stuttering as well as the other speech aspects.  I received a prompt, kindly reply that Forbrain cannot treat those issues, but they will not interfere with use for the other issues.  I definitely suggest, if you are unsure how Forbrain can help you or your child, that you pop off an email.  They are great about responding with answers.

What's included?

Forbrain comes in a sturdy zippered case.  It has a firm foam-type liner that fits the appliance perfectly.  A charging cord is included with a USB end.  Three extra microphone covers and a manual are included, as well as the actual headset.  Just plug it in and it will be ready to use in no time.  The battery lasts many hours.  We only had to charge it a couple of times during the six weeks we've had it.

The three buttons on the filter are power and volume controls.  It is recommended that you do not adjust the volume unless it is uncomfortable for the wearer.

Side effects?

The boys have not complained of any trouble.  I did notice a slight "buzzy" kind of feeling in my jaw for a very short time after use.  There's nothing painful or distracting about it and it quickly ended.

How we use Forbrain

Xavier has been my main man reviewer.  He wears the headset regularly while reading aloud.  I can't say for sure that it is helping him with his speech issues, but I will say he shouts when he speaks much less frequently.  At least while he is wearing the headset and shortly after, my own eardrums get a rest.  Xavier speaks quietly with it on, but he can't tell how loud he is when he isn't wearing it. What I found humorous is that he can't actually hear any difference in his volume.  The headset enhances what he is hearing, so he thinks he's speaking at the same volume when he wears it as when he does not.  He is pretty self-conscious about wearing it in front of anyone.

Merrick cannot read yet, so his trial has been more limited.  He can wear it while he recites the poems we are memorizing.  The headset seems a wee bit big on him for now, which is surprising considering the size of the skulls in this house.  He has been denied speech services for the time being, so I'll be working on those skills with him myself.  I also have a phonics app that works very nicely with use of the headset.




Malachi wore the headset once for a minute or two.  He was very bothered by the changes in his hearing.

I wear Forbrain while reading aloud to the boys and have worn it while singing.  Well, talk about self-conscious!  Xav does not have that market cornered.  The singing about did me in!  HA!

It's recommended that you use Forbrain for six to ten weeks, daily or nearly so.  The amount of time varies by age, with younger users wearing the headset for a shorter period of time.  There are also extended time frames (multiple times in a day or for longer periods in a day) for short term use. We are right about at six weeks of use now.  I can't say that I've seen marked improvement in any area, but I see no reason not to finish out the ten weeks and reevaluate what's happening with us after that time.


Find Forbrain on social media.

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Stopmotion Explosion TOS Review

One of the best things about being on the Schoolhouse Review Crew is that not only do we get to review fantastic home and homeschool related products and tell you about them, we get some input regarding which things we really want to look at.  That way we are using items we, and our readers, might find the most interesting and useful.  When Stopmotion Explosion showed up on my radar, I may actually have begged for this review (I did it for *you*!).  My eight nine year old had been taking bajillions (I'm sure that's a very accurate estimation) of still photos with his ancient iPod for months, but no one had any idea what to do with all of those pictures.  Enter the Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit.

The Animation Kit includes everything needed to create stop motion videos.

• Stopmotion Explosion software ~ compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 & OS X 5.1+
• 720p HD video camera
• Stopmotion Explosion: Animate Anything and Make Movies by Nate Eckerson

You can read the first two chapters of the book online (there are 17 chapters in all).  This book taught us all we needed to know to create movies, from writing our story and building the sets to the use of proper lighting and film editing. 

All kinds of items can be animated.  We worked exclusively with toys, mostly Lego and some Thomas the Tank Engine vehicles.  You can also create animated videos with clay, stuffed animals, and basic things like string.  The options are as endless as your imagination!  The Stopmotion Explosion content hub has tons of fan videos, tutorials, and other cool stuff to inspire your creativity.

Stop motion film animation has been around since the dawn of cinema.  I'm dating myself a bit, but I remember watching Davy and Goliath and Gumby on weekend mornings at my Grandma's house.  Art Clokey created both of those shows.  Many Rankin/Bass Christmas specials used stop motion animation.  My kids are much more familiar with Nick Park's work which includes Wallace and Gromit.  Even the original three Star Wars films (episodes IV, V, VI) have used stop motion.  Remember the game played by R2 and Chewy in A New Hope?  "I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookie win."

Xavier didn't know that I'd requested the Stopmotion Explosion Kit for review because I didn't want him to be disappointed if we weren't selected.  As soon as I knew though, I told him and he was very excited.  Then I told him it would probably be a few weeks before it arrived so he wouldn't badger ask me every. single. day.  He was so excited when it arrived!



After running to tell Malachi, he got right into the included book.  There aren't many books he will read as happily or completely as he read Stopmotion Explosion.

He and Dad used the Quick Start Guide to make their first video the very same day.  Actually, Xav made many videos on many days!  He made some mistakes, like not paying attention to what extra stuff was in a shot (people moving in and out of the background, getting your hand in a shot, shadows, and lighting changes), not sticking his base plates down with putty like we did with the camera, and not focusing the camera.  We did learn that the camera is very difficult to focus.  The ring just does not turn easily.  Otherwise, this actually was a very simple process.  We learned from our mistakes and moved on to improve our videos in time.  Micah showed Xav what to do once and he was able to teach me himself so I could make a video with Merrick.

For the first attempt, they created a car chase.  This was pretty simple.  They worked in the hallway that day and I think they had better lighting results there than some of the films made in the living room.

Merrick and I made a video together also.  I let him move one of the two trains we used.  It's a perfect example of tacking down your base.  He kicked and tripped over one of the tracks so many times!  But it was "his" movie and he's only four, so I just let it go.

The whole process can be very time consuming.  It takes about 12-15 stills to create one second of a movie.  When I see a stop motion film that is many minutes, or even an hour+ long, I have a whole new appreciation for that kind of effort.  Interestingly enough, while we were learning about stop motion animation during this review period, I heard about the full length film Loving Vincent that is being made.  The movie is about Vincent VanGogh.  Instead of using 12 photo stills per second, they are creating 12 *oil paintings* per second. All painted in the style of Vincent VanGogh.  Amazing!

What Xav thought.

One minute movies are really hard to make.  I've only gotten up to twenty three seconds.  Making videos is easy.  The book says what to do.  Making the videos and watching them is fun.  The camera that came in the box is the most interesting thing there is.  I learned not to use your iPod because the making movies pack (Stopmotion Explosion Kit) is much easier.

Here's our first completed video using Audacity and Windows Movie Maker to throw it all together.

I would definitely recommend the Stopmotion Explosion Kit for anyone interested in learning about and creating stop motion videos.  It isn't difficult to learn, even for a non-techy like myself.  With practice and patience, you can learn to make a lot of different, fun videos.


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