Spiritual Circle Journal Review

Vendor: Spiritual Circle Journal
Product: Spiritual Circle Journal for Kids and Teens
Age: 8 years old and up
Price: $15.00


About: My daughter, who is 11, has started to include the Spiritual Circle Journal for Kids & Teens as part of her Bible time. This journal, from Spiritual Circle Journal, includes 3 pages of Parent/Teacher/Leader guide instructions to help parents and homeschoolers to use this tool with their children. This section just gives the parent helpful tips and some inspection on using the journal. This is intended for children that are 8 years old and up, however younger children could do this too with a bit more guidance. The journal in total contains; instructions, a sample journal (by a 12yo boy), 66 journal pages, and 15 pages for summary and personal use for a total of 94 pages.

This journal is neat because it helps children really dig deeper in their thoughts and in line with God's word. Sometimes keeps have a hard time knowing what to pray for or getting their feeling's out. This journal helps with prompts via bullets aka the bubbles.

THE NINE PRAYER AREAS ARE:

Journal Entry - which are cloud bubbles and they ask the child what they are feeling for the day.
Lyric/Verse - Music note bubble where you put down a song or a verse that may have been stuck on your mind for the day.
Message - Bible bubble is the place to put what you have learned for the day.
Confession - heart bubbles that ask if you need to ask God for forgiveness for anything.
God Moving - car bubble where it asks if you have seen God Moving in your life.
Lesson Learned Light-Bulb Moment - light bulb bubble. Here you think of any moments you had a light bulb go off on something you have have done.
Prayer - backpack bubble where you might ask God for help with something. Maybe something is bothering you.
Thank You/Adoration - note bubble that you put what you can praise God for.
Actions - shoe bubble where you put something God wants you to do, maybe helping others.

This has really be a "God send" as my daughter is coming into her preteens and all the emotions that come with it. She had a hard time talking to me, sometimes it's just for lack of words to say. This gives her an outlet with prompts to help her know what to say and how to get out what she needs too. I really think all kids would do amazing with this but I really think this is amazing for the preteen age where they are so confused with what is going on anyways. Plus it helps them build that daily time with God and to see how they should use that time as they grow with God and in age. I think the idea point's are some thing that will stick with her for a long time to come. I also think it is a great place to keep her thoughts she doesn't want people to know. I allowed her to keep her privacy on it after we did a couple days to help show her the way it works and to help her get a feel for it. I don't think it was my place to invade on her feelings until she is ready to come to me with them. I think she loves that security that she can get it out of her mind but still know it's between her and God.



Be sure to check Spiritual Circle Journal out on Social Media as well as check out what my othere crew members had to say about their children's experience with the journal.

Social Media Links:
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LizLassa/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/spiritualcirclejournal/ @spiritualcirclejournal
Twitter: https://twitter.com/liz_lassa @liz_lassa

Ft. Stewart, GA

This past Thursday we decided to take the kids on base for a Social Studies lesson.  I thought it may be a little bit advanced for them to understand, but tried anyways.  I was please to say that they enjoyed it and they were so intrested in all of the things to see.  As you walk in there is a touch table, which lets the kids try on hats, shoes, and some of the other Army gear.  Then there were cases of different things found in countries, guns, and now and then comparisons. When you go outside they had many different machines like tanks and helicopers for the kids to see as well.  It was a fun time all around.

2012

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review

Vendor: jollyliteracy.com just2ducks LLC Products: Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Age: Elementary Age

This review was given to me by jollyliteracy.com and just2ducks LLC. The following items were included for review:

Jolly Phonics Teacher's Book in print letters

Jolly Phonics Student Book 1, 2 and 3

Jolly Grammar 1 Teacher's Book in print letters

Jolly Grammar 1 Student Book

Jolly Songs in print letters

About: Jolly Phonics is a common core program that helps kids learn their Phonics so they can begin reading. They learn the sounds of the letters along with little reminding gestures to make it fun. The lessons are short and about a page long. This makes it go by quickly and nit overwhelming the child. The pages are full color as well. The song book comes with the CD so the kids can practice further with singing out their sounds they are learning. 
Jolly Grammar teaches grammar and spelling rules. They do this through spelling lists and activities like unscramble sentances and maring current punctuation. 
How we used: Since we are just learning our sounds we only used the Jolly Phonics, the teacher book, and song book. Each day we did a new page which housed a new sound. We would then listen to the songs to help enforce what we learned for the day and the past days as we went further through the book. Then their is also a color picture and word to go with the sound that I would have my son do during the day to keep up with what he learned that morning. The lesson also includes words for that sound and they get to write it. This helps teach them some basic words and understanding reading them. Letters are also taught in sound frequency vs in alphabetical order. Book 2 and three continues on with more words and then sentances. Lots of copy work for these lessons. 
We did not get to the grammar books but we did look them over em for when time comes to use them. It goes over spelling, nouns, verbs, and adjitives in book one. 
Overall we loved the books. The multisensory spin on learning helps retain what is taught. This is really good for kids that lack focus and getting them moving adds a new light to things to remember. I think any child struggling to read or needs help learning English would really benifit from these, either in the class or at home as a helper tool. 
Be sure to check out Jolly Literacy on social media as well as checking out what my other crew members had to say about the program. 

Jolly Literacy on social media:

Facebook:www.facebook.com/jollyliteracy
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jollyliteracy
Pinterest:www.pinterest.com/jollyliteracy/

Enlivenze LLC Review

Vendor: Enlivenze LLC
Product: Solar System
Price: $24.95
Age: Level 2-ages 7 and up

About: Enlivenze LLC gave our crew the wonderful change to review a fun little busy activity. The FlipStir Puzzles are just exactly what their name says. I got to test out the Level 2 Solar System FlipStir that is for children ages seven and up. FlipStir is a 3D self contained puzzle that you have to flip and stir to solve. The Solar System is a 10 peice puzzle. It is in a vase type container with a little stick that goes down inside it that you are able to pull in and out and around to help stir the peices in order to get them to match up and make your picture. That sums up the simple instructions: Shake, Stir, Solve!

This was a great busy item to keep with us.  No matter how many times the kids solved it I could shake it up really good and make it a new challenge for them to solve again. Not to mention being a self contained puzzle you do not have to worry about missing peices floating off. This made it great for on the go.  We have many appointments for several things so we go alot. My only wish is that I would have had three to review to keep each of the big kids from bickering on who's turn it was to solve next.  It really was a joy.  Even my ADHD kids were able to focus on this to complete it.  Since it's not horribly long to do it was perfect for obtaining and keeping their attention. A smile shake up and they were ready to go again with a new mix to resolve. It was so nice seeing them get excited as they were getting it together.

I think this is a great busy game for any child that likes a challenge but may not handle tasks that take forever to complete.  It also doesn't get boring quick since each time you shake it the peices are on a complete new order.

Be sure to check them out on social media:
Product Accounts
Facebook: www.facebook.com/flipstirpuzzle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/flipstir

Comapny Accounts
Facebook: www.facebook.com/enlivenze
Twitter: www.twitter.com/enlivenze

Also check out what other puzzles my crew mates were able to try out,  some of Level one as well.

Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids Review

Vendor: Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids
Product: Starter Set 1
Price: $140.25
Age: About 3rd grade and up

About: There are always interesting things presented to us on the review crew. Sometimes we get things we are no sure how much we will like. I was giving the chance to review something from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids. They have the Starter Set 1, which is their beginning Spanish program. This is geared more to children that are at least in third grade but it works just as well for a highschooler to use it to learn as well.

The whole set is $140.25. This set includes:

☆ 20 week curriculum guide, which includes gamea and activities
☆ DVD 1 that contains the first three videos Basketballs Aren't for Breakfast, The Little Magic House Part 1, and The Little Magic House Part 2
☆ Three workbooks that follow the videos
☆ Sticker set for Basketballs Arent for Breakfast
☆ Flashcard Set which has a graphic aND the Spanish words that are taught in the videos

The program uses the immersion technique to teach Spanish. They don't give you the English word but instead show your what it means. Just like when teaching your child to talk in your current language. You start out by watching Basketballs Aren't for Breakfast. This is a fun little story that once again is all in Spanish. However it is really easy to understand and follow along and things are repeated. I let Kailea watch the video, she is 11 years old, and then we played it thr second time and brought out the workbook that goes with this video. There is also a teacher guide that has the lesson plans, I read over them but felt more comfortable letting her go at her own pace. She watched the video several times while working on the workbook. She was also able to use the flashcards to help her practice and memorize the words better. When starting the second video, The Little Magic House Part 1, we seen that it really upped the difficulty. So I suggest making sure your child is completely comfortable with the first video and lessons before trying to move on to the next. Once she had the words down better she was able to start on video two and we did the same, letting her watch first before we watched again and brought out the workbook that went with it. She continues to use the flashcards from the first video in with hers from the second so that she doesn't forget them. She is pretty quick on those though. As with anything things get harder and she is having to watch video two several extra tomes to get them down. She is a very organized and almost OCD girl so she has really enjoyed having her practice cards. She keeps them out while she watches rhe video and puts them in order of the video and then practices on how to say them with the video the next time she watches. That was nice because she had the video visual but also the hands on with the card. She also kept them while working on her book because she could quiz herself through them if she found she was slipping up on remembering a word.

Overall we really loved the program. It isn't to kiddish so even if your beginner is older this would still be a great place to start. The repetition is key and having the additional resources like the workbook and flashcards are a great add on to help further the repition of words until they became fluent in the word. She tries to use them in place of the English words now. I have to admit I am confused a lot, I think I may need to sit down and do the course videos as well so I know what she is saying. It has also sparked interest in my younger kids but they sre kpt good readers yet so it was harder for them to pick it up. They do well with listening to the video though which is helpful and can be used alone as well.

You can also check them out on social media: https://www.facebook.com/ForeignLanguagesForKidsByKids

Also see what my fellow crew members had to say about the set. They have children of all ages using this product.