Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids

¡Hola! My kids were super excited about this review from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids. It had been a while since we've formally studied a foreign language together, and they had been asking to learn one.

While there's something so empowering about speaking and understanding a language other than your native one, the learning process can be intimidating. I was pleased when the opportunity came to use the Starter Set 1 for Spanish. You see, I took 3 years of Spanish in high school. By the last year, once we walked in the room, we could speak only Spanish. Not a single word of English could be uttered. I felt confident that I could teach my children, as well, especially with the help of an award-winning program.

The Start Set 1 is a complete 20-week curriculum that contains everything you need to introduce your family to the Spanish language.

• DVD 1 -- The first 3 videos (of an 8-part series) of the program: Basketballs Aren't for Breakfast, The Little Magic House Part 1, The Little Magic House Part 2.
• 3 Workbooks -- One workbook to correspond to each video.
• 3 Teacher's Guides -- One guide to accompany each workbook.
• Stickers -- Spanish vocabulary words from the first video.
• Flashcards -- One color-coded set including graphics and vocabulary for each of the videos.
• Go Squish! (included free for a limited time) -- Spanish Go Fish type of card game.

The videos of Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids are the main teaching tool of the program. Everything is completely in Spanish and preformed by kids (with an adult voice off-screen occasionally). The teaching style is a combination of immersion and visuals with plenty of humor and fun. It teaches words and sentences that are practical and used in everyday life in a fun, easy way.

 

The Teacher's Guide could not be simpler to use. Each lesson is broken down by activities and lists approximately how long it will take to complete. Nearly every day starts with watching a video or portion of a video. There are many learning exercises throughout that both reinforce the vocabulary in the videos and teach additional information about Spanish-speaking countries, like geography, foods, idioms, accent marks, traditions, fun facts, and more. There are also hands-on and gross motor activities.

The guide give specific directions for each activity, but also leaves the lessons open for the flexibility that homeschoolers love so much. It gives alternate suggestions, gives grace to those who might not grasp the language as quickly, and is filled with positive reinforcement.

The workbooks are bold, full-color books. Along with some of that additional information I described already, they are packed with fun activities.

• matching
• crossword puzzles
• word scrambles
• multiple choice
• secret codes
• word searches
• missing letters
• fill in the blank
• creative writing
• . . . and so much more

Between the impressive variety of activities in the books and the bold color of the pages and pictures, the kids never get bored. The directions are written first in Spanish and then in English. The side-by-side helps the kids understand and decipher words without specifically being taught. There is a complete, matching answer key for the exercises at the back of each book. The books also increase in difficulty just like it does in subsequent videos.

 

To say that my kids love this program would be an understatement. The first day, they wanted to watch all 3 videos. Of course, at the time, they couldn't understand a single word other than hola and gracias. Still, there were smiles and laughter throughout the entire thing. The videos follow a family with 3 boys as they go about their day. The first video takes place during breakfast and teaches words such as apple (manzana), orange (naranja), bread (pan), and eggs (huevos) along with a few more complicated things like where is it? (¿dónde está?) and here it is (aqui está).

The dialogue is simple and stream-lined. Instead of asking "do you want an apple," one brother holds an apple in front of another and simply says, "¿Manzana?" As more vocabulary is introduced throughout the videos, the dialogue becomes more complicated. The words are taught through visuals and repetition, so the kids aren't left confused. My kids were walking around speaking Spanish words the first day I played the DVD.

 
Seriously, my little ones (10, 8, 6, 4) beg to do their Spanish lesson every day. It's fun listening to them walk around the house pointing out what they know and incorporating the language into their conversations. I love when my 4-year-old tells me, "Mommy, I me gusta you." I know it's not a proper translation or combination of the languages, but it shows me that he's understanding and applying it to his own life.

The kids love everything about this curriculum--videos, workbooks, Go Squish! card game, flashcards, stickers, everything. We've had a lot of fun together doing the lessons. The only somewhat negative I can even say is that because the workbook pages are glossy it can be difficult to write on with some utensils and that if you leave the stickers on certain surfaces for a month they can leave a residue that you have to clean (this one is my fault, oops).

The products from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids are quality resources. The Spanish Start Set 1 has been a huge hit in our house. It's not only successfully taught my children the words that are used in the videos in a fun way, but has also encouraged them to learn more on their own. They're often asking me the Spanish equivalent of a word. It's amazing all the information that I've remembered from my high school days just by using these videos. We're also using my Spanish/English dictionary on nearly a daily basis.

We're still working out way through the second video and accompanying workbook. I see us studying Spanish through Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids for a long time. The kids love it; I love it; and it works.   

You can connect with Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids on Facebook. 

If you'd like to see how other homeschool families used this product, please read the reviews on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. 

Owlegories

My kiddos like getting curricula and books in the mail as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, but they get really excited when we get something like a DVD to review. It seems more like fun than work, and, of course, they never get tired of hearing, "We need to watch this video for school today." So, as you can imagine, they were pleased when a package from FishFlix.com arrived at our door. They were even happier when they opened the package and found a video about the things of God. My oldest son had watched the trailer with me on YouTube before the DVD came and was excited to tell his siblings about Owlegories: The Ant, The Fruit, The Butterfly.

Owlegories is an animated series in which owls teach kids about God through the use of allegories. (Did you catch the play on words in the title? Cute!) The episodes teach about God's nature and truths found in His Word by using elements found in nature. The Ant, The Fruit, The Butterfly is the second DVD of the series.

 

In each episode, the Professor sends the owl students (Joey, Nora, Violet, Gus, and Twitch) on an adventure. Along the way, they learn important truths, have fun, and are attempted to be foiled by the "bad guy" Devlin and his sidekick Fink. At the beginning of class, the students quote the owl pledge:

 

We love to learn about creation.

It helps us become wise. 

God's nature is all around us,

If we look through heaven's eyes.

The Ant
In this episode, the owl students go to a maple syrup farm. (This was so exciting to my kids as this month we were able to tap trees to make our own maple syrup too!) A colony of ants teach them 3 ways in which followers of Christ should be like ants based on Proverbs 6:6:

1. They work together.
2. They are hard workers.
3. They plan for the future.

My kids favorite part about this one was Gus's silly song about how God made everything.

The Fruit
Galatians 5:22-23 is the key verse for this episode. The students head to an apple orchard where they learn about the Fruits of the Spirit and are introduced to some bad fruits, too. My kids laughed at the impersonations that Twitch did of the other characters. It was even one of his impersonations that saved their apples from being stolen by Devlin to make the perfect pie!


The Butterfly
The students learn in this episode that creepy crawly bugs are not all bad. They observe the change of caterpillars as they morph into chrysalises and then transform into butterflies. They learn from II Corinthians 5:17 how Christians are like the butterflies:

1. God looks at our heart. It does not matter what we look like on the outside.
2. A caterpillar changes into a butterfly just as we are changed through salvation.
3. Just as the caterpillar is free when it becomes a butterfly, we find true freedom when we accept Christ as our Savior.

My kids loved when Devlin got "eaten" by a big fish!

At the end of each episode, there's a recap about the truths we can learn from God's Word. Then, there's a follow-up portion with known Christians (authors, pastors, etc.) where the truth is expounded on.

The entire video is about a half hour long and kept my kiddos entertained. More than that though, it taught my kids about God on their level. Because the episodes and lessons are short to keep the attention of little ones, there are aspects that get skipped, like the need to boil the maple sap to turn it into syrup or the actual time frame of metamorphosis. These things are not necessarily a big deal, but open up another teaching moment with the kids. Also, Owlegories does not use the King James Bible for their verses, so that was another detail that my kids pointed out.

All in all, my little ones love this video. They laugh at Gus, walk around singing the songs, and ask to watch it often. We've even downloaded the app and watched another episode that way. I see more Owlegories finding their way into our house in the future.  

FishFlix.com is an online store offering thousand of high-quality Christian movies. Their business philosophy is based on the following verses: Colossians 3:17 and Colossians 3:23-24, meaning that whatever they do, they're doing it for God. They offer low prices on their DVDs along with free shipping. If you're looking to add some quality entertainment to your life, FishFlix.com will have what you need.

You can connect with FishFlix.com on the following social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Instagram

YouTube

You can read more reviews of this title and some of the offered by FishFlix.com by visiting the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

The John Wesley Story

My kids like getting curricula and books in the mail as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, but they get really excited when we get something like a DVD to review. It seems more like fun than work, and, of course, they never get tired of hearing, "We need to watch this video for school today." So, as you can imagine, they were pleased when a package from FishFlix.com arrived at our door. They were even happier when they opened the package and found a video about the things of God.

Torchlighters: The John Wesley Story is a 30-minute video that briefly touches on the life of the great preacher. It starts in 1708, when his home is engulfed in flames. The majority of the family escapes, but young John gets trapped inside. As the flames and smoke begin to overtake him, he is rescued. His mother tells him that he is a "brand plucked from the fire" (Zechariah 3:2) and that God must have something special planned for him.  

John spent the next many years involved in the things of God. He even traveled to America to preach about God, but returned to England after a year and half with no converts and feeling like a failure.   

Once home, he visited his brother Charles. It was then that he saw a vast difference in his brother. Charles told him that he had been saved and explained the difference between knowing about God and knowing God. John rejected the difference. How could he, a clergyman, not know God? He reluctantly attended a Bible study, and there accepted the truth of the Gospel.

He determined that God saved him from that fire as a child so he could preach to sinners in need of a Saviour. He and Charles began preaching in churches all over, and each time, the people rejected, throwing them out of the church. In the midst of discouragement, he received an invitation from George Whitfield to "preach in an open field."

He immediately began preaching not in the churches, but to the poor on the streets. The miners in their filthy rags understood about needing a Saviour. People were receptive and many trusted Christ. Not everyone was pleased though. The story goes on to show a little orphan boy who falls and breaks his leg. With no money for medical care, the would be left to suffer. A man offers to pay for the needed help if another man, the boy's friend George, leads a mob to kill John.

In the end, it wasn't only the boy who needed help, but George, as well. He accepts Christ and takes the boy to the Wesleys and their friends to get the help he needs.

In conclusion, the video sums up John's life by mentioning how he and Charles started soup kitchens, schools, and orphanages and provided children with medical care and education. They preached about needing your sins forgiven. In turn, they began the Methodist movement.

As soon as the end credits began to play, my 9-year-old asked, "It's over already?" He had enjoyed the storyline so much that he was disappointed that it ended so quickly. The video (part of the Torchlighters series) was easy to follow and the cartoon characters kept my kids attention. They would have happily sat and watched a full-length movie about the life of John Wesley. When I mentioned that I was getting ready to write my review, my 7-year-old daughter replied, "I'll tell you what I think about it. I just love it. I love it because it's about God." And what more do you need than that?

 

"Do all the good you can,

In all the ways you can,

To all the souls you can,

In every place you can,

With all the zeal you can,

As long as ever you can."

~ John Wesley ~

You can connect with FishFlix on the following social media sites:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google+
YouTube

You can read more reviews of this title or one of the others offered from FishFlix on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

The Forbidden Book

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah 40:8 

We were given the opportunity to review a historical documentary from New Liberty Videos. The company, owned by Brian Barkley, produces Christian videos. They offer a variety of topics from the greatness of America to the UFO conspiracy to the mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls to life after an abortion and more. We chose The Forbidden Book.   

The Forbidden Book is a 58-minute DVD about the preservation of the Bible. From the beginning of time, the Devil has wanted to cause confusion and destroy God's Word.  This documentary is a walk through history and how godly men chose to fight for the preservation of the Bible. Even during the Dark Ages when superstition and ignorance attempted to control the people, men stood firm in their faith. This video tells the stories of early church fathers, John Wycliffe (who translated the Bible from Latin to English), Martin Luther (who exposed wrong doings in the church and preached that justification was through faith and faith alone, Ephesians 2:8-9), William Tyndale (who sacrificed his life in order to make printed Bibles in the English language available to the people), and the countless martyrs who defended their faith and taught their children the Scriptures and were tortured because of it.   

 Did you know . . .

• Ancient Bibles required an entire flock of sheep to provide the parchment for one 4th century New Testament.

• The cost of a Bible in the 1300s, easily amounted to a priests whole yearly income. 

• The Geneva Bible was quoted by William Shakespeare over 5,000 times in his plays. 

• The first Bible printed in the United States was in 1663 and was a translation for the Algonquin Indians.

• By 400 A.D., the Bible had been translated into 500 languages.

• By 500 A.D., the Bible had been reduce to only 1 language.

 

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35

Having grown up in a Christian home, attending a Christian school, and graduating from a Bible college, a lot of the information was review for me. I was taught a love of the Scriptures early on. I learned how men and women defended their faith and refused to back down even when death was imminent. Too often, I think, we take our Bibles for granted. There was once a time when people gave all to hold a copy of God's Word in their hands, when seeing the Scriptures in your own tongue was all but a dream. Now, we have multiple copies lying around the house. May we always understand that It is a precious Book, one to be read daily and obeyed. 

This video is full of facts and information and is narrated by Dr. Craig Lampe, a Bible historian. While I have studied this subject over the years, it was a good review and reminder. The DVD, which costs $19.95, is recommended for a general audience, but I wasn't so sure a documentary would hold the attention of my littles (8 and younger). My husband and I sat down to watch it by ourselves. Within minutes of starting, I knew that I had been right. The kids even walked into the room at one point when they heard that a movie was on, and quickly went back to the other room to play. While the information is great and the topic is important, the execution is a little dry. It would be good for an older student or adult who truly wants to learn about the people God used to preserve His Word for us today.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: II Timothy 3:16

To read more reviews of the Forbidden Book or one of the other videos offered, please head to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.