Elephant Learning Math Academy/ TOS Review

Elephant Learning Math Academy is a highly recommended math program that guarantees that your child will learn at least one year of math in three months when they use this system 30 minutes per week. That's only 10 minutes a day/3 times a week!

We were super blessed to have received a 12 month subscription to Elephant Learning Math Academy. 

Elephant Learning is geared towards children ages 2-16. It does cover topics through Algebra but is not technically used for high school, but if you have a high schooler who needs extra help in Algebra, this should help them just fine.

As you can see below, Brently was at the "age" 3.5 when he started the program. He has been using it for a couple of months now and has gained two years of knowledge already! And we weren't even using this as consistent as we should have been. (Lots of pain issues with mommy) I can't imagine where he would be if we had been able to use even more often. I plan on continuing to use this though. He has several online "school" programs that he uses, but this is the one that he asks for the most. He loves to do his Elephant Learning!

So this is the homepage. All your child has to do when they log in is to click on continue coursework and it will take them exactly where they need to be. You can also see where they are, at a glance, on this page.

You can log in and see how much they are using the program. 

You can see what they have been learning in more detail here. 

You can also find worksheets for the day so you can do additional problems that go along with what they are learning. 

When your child clicks on continue coursework, they get to choose what type of characters they want to play with. All of the lessons are the same, but the pages, characters etc. are different. 

Side Note: As I am writing this, he is asking me if we can do Elephant Learning. :)

Here I give you screenshots of part of a lesson. 

Elephant Learning Math Academy is self intuitive. The program can detect what your child understands and doesn't understand and provides activities based on that. It moves your child right along where they need to be, skipping over concepts they already know. My son really likes this program. He thinks it is great fun. OH, it also speaks his name, so he really loves that!! It will say things like "Hi Brently, can you give me 8 sharks", how cool is that???

Another thing that is different about this program is that it focuses on concepts rather than procedures so you can use it with any math program you may be using. It is compatible with all curriculum!.

I asked Brently a few questions. Here are his (odd) answers.

1. Do you like Elephant Learning? Shakes his head yes.
2. What is your favorite part of Elephant Learning? Says, "Umm, me just doing school."
3. What do you like to play on Elephant Learning? He said he likes to move the characters to the places they are supposed to go.

I like this program. I initially thought I would use it more for my 14 year old than my 4 year old, but Nathan has so much on his school plate right now that it was hard to fit in. BUT, it is only 10 minutes a day, three times a week, so next semester, I am going to have him do it more often. I think he can benefit just as much as Brently did.

I am not the only one that reviewed this program. My fellow Crew Mates also reviewed it. Please be sure to go on over and read their reviews as well. Click Below!

Kregel Publications - Goldtown Beginnings/ TOS Review

Kregel Publications sent us two adorable beginning chapter books; Jem Strikes Gold and Jems Frog Fiasco. Both of the books are from the Goldtown Beginnings series.

One of my favorite type of books for my children are books that teach while they tell a story. That is what these books are. The have your child learning facts while they think they are just reading a fun story! 

Both books are soft cover with around 80 pages each. The font size is large enough to see and read easily. There are some black and white pictures scattered throughout the pages. The illustrations are cute and really add to the story. My son wishes there were more pictures, but he is only four, and I am reading him the books. When he can read by himself tough, I think he will love these books.

The story lines are really cute. Both books follow the same family throughout their adventures. Jem and Ellie, brother and sister, are the two main characters in the books. They are living in Goldtown California, in the 1800's. The stories, while super adorable, also teach your children about how it was to live in this time in history. There are also biblical and moral stories woven into the books. I really like that. When Jem is getting mad, he is trying to remember the Bible verses about patience and not getting angry. I like that they are showing our kids how to respond in certain situations. 

In the first book, Jem is trying to help his mom with the family pie making business. He encounters a bully and has to learn how to deal with a situation like that. The second book continues the story of the first book.

Each book has a list of "New Words" at the beginning of the book as well as a "Peek Into the Past" section at the end of the book that shares some knowledge about the time period the book is held in. Your child will learn a lot about gold mining, and the Gold Rush, with these two books. 

I think the author does a very good job of making you feel like you are there, in that time period, feeling what it was like trying to make a living during the Gold Rush

These books are very cute, very fun to read, very knowledgeable and I really think your kids will like them.


Another thing that I love about these books is that they offer complimentary activity pages to go along with all of their books. Here are some example pages from one of the books.

I LOVE these! It makes it so exciting to read the books! 

Like I said earlier, Brently can't read but he likes me to read these to him. There will be a total of 6 books in the series. I will get him the rest of the books. The books are $5.99 each. I think that is a good price!

Please be sure to go and read my fellow Crew Mate's reviews on these two books as well:

Channie's Flashcards/ TOS Review

We received two products from Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks. Brently has been using both the Channie's Dry Erase Flashcard for Alphabet & Number and the Channie's Dry Erase Flashcard for Sight Words sets. 

Channie's was born from one mom's struggle with helping her son learn how to write. She knew he needed something different, and she created Channie's Visual Handwriting. Her products are even sold at Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby! 

What makes Channie's different from other handwriting products is:

1. Blocks for consistent letter size

2. Double vertical lines to guide proper spacing

3. Middle green shade helps in lowercase placement and writing in straight lines and...

4. The ability to self correct when writing outside the lines

We received and used two flashcard sets. The first set we received were for sight words.

As you can see, this is a large set. It includes 100 of your child's first sight words. The size and the quality of the cards are really good for toddlers and preschoolers. They are very sturdy, and being able to erase and use them over and over again makes them very valuable. You don't have to go through workbooks or pieces of paper. Plus, it always seems more fun to draw and erase! This set runs for $16.95. 

The second set of flashcards we received were for the alphabet and numbers. 

This set includes 26 alphabets cards with corresponding letter words and 10 number cards. This set is the same good quality of the sight word set. This set is $15.95

I think the prices of the sets are really good. The cards are bigger than most flash cards, the colors are very vibrant, and the quality is really good. I don't worry about Brently bending them or tearing them up. 

You can use these cards on their own or you can use them along side of whatever other programs you are using. If you are learning the letters or the sounds, you can pull these out to reinforce the letter/sound you are currently working on. You can use these, obviously, to practice how to write the letters and not have to go through a ton of handwriting practice pages. 

The sight word set would be great to use along side your spelling program, especially when you are learning to read the sight words! 

Here is a video of Brently using some of the flash cards and what he thinks about them:

If you prefer a traditional workbook or paper style for learning to write, you can certainly get those from Channie's as well. They include the same unique blocks and lines for learning to write as the flashcards do. 

They have writing products for Pre-K up to the 5th grade, including cursive. They also have these awesome, shorter pencils that I would love to try!

Don't those look really cool??

They also have math workbooks for K-3rd grade. 

There are also bundles and classroom packs available. 

There are a lot of other crew members that reviewed Channie's products. Some of them reviewed some of the math products as well if you are interested in those. Be sure to go and check out all of the other reviews.