Snake Oil- Party Potion from Out of the Box Games (Schoolhouse Review Crew review)

We received this for review purposes!

Product Links: Snake Oil – Party Potion (Ages 8 and up)

Vendor Information Link: Out of the Box Games

Age Appeal: 8 and up

Format: physical game with cards and instruction

Price: $14.99 

Does your family need a fun to game to play, but do you want it to be educational at the same time?  Snake Oil from Out of the Box Games is that game!

Snake Oil is based on the snake oil introduced by the Chinese who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860’s.  They shared the snake oil with the Americans, who made outrageous claims with it.  The salesmen who sold these products (which did not contain much snake oil) were called Snake Oil Salesmen.

This game is based on that history.  This game is played by three to six people at a time and it should take 20-30 minutes to complete.  Each person takes 6 word cards and they take turns being the customer, like a magician or Olympic Athlete.  The people who are not the customer take two of their cards and present a sale pitch to the customer.  One phrase could be gravity coat.  The customer picks the product they want and the customer card goes to that player.  Each player will draw two more cards, each player should always have six cards.  The winner of the game is the person who has the most cards at the end of the round.  This video does an excellent job of showing how the game is played.    

Our Experience: 

We have seen Snake Oil Salesmen at different forts and events we have been to in the West.  The children had fun watching and learning from them, so I thought this game would be perfect for them.  I also thought it would be good for C, so she could work on her creative thinking, quick thinking, and public speaking skills.  B is really good with those skills, so I wanted him to hone them.

They were so excited when the game came in the mail, that we opened the package and played a game.  It was a lot of fun.  C was doing much better than I thought she would and B had some excellent sales pitches.

We have played Snake Oil many times since then, but C has had a harder time trying to make things up than she did the first time.  She must be putting too much pressure on herself.  I will have to help her overcome it.  B has been doing a good job, but he has had a couple of rounds where he has gotten some hard cards to use.  They were cards like grave, nightmare, butt, and curse.  We do not actively use some of those words at our home (especially when trying to combine the words into a product), so I am going to go through the deck and pick out the ones that do not work with our family.  It should be much easier for the children to build products after that.

We have been having fun with this game.  I plan on using it weekly in school so B and C can continue to improve their skills.

Mama’s Thoughts:

• I really liked this game.  It was the perfect game to help C with her creative thinking and public speaking skills.  I was proud of her.  She needs to become confident of her creative thinking.  I think it will come with our encouragement and time spent playing this game. 
• B is a very creative young man, so this game was made for him.  He won many cards, because of his ability to think quickly and deliver good sales pitches. 
• There were words that I personally do not approve of saying or were not appropriate for them, so they will be set aside until they are older.  I thought they made hard word combinations to be proper when I was trying to be appropriate with my children.
• I thought the cards themselves were neat with the snake on them.  It really did make it a Snake Oil game. 
• We enjoyed the different customer cards.  After we had played the game several times I think that both B and C were trying really hard to make their product suite the customer.  I realized in the last game we played that not only should I make the card fit the customer, but I needed to make it something that B or C would like to have if they were that customer.  I need to remember to share that with them the next time we play.  It might help C to more easily think of her products.    

B’s Thoughts (boy, age 10, officially in fifth grade):   

I liked Snake Oil.  There were some very unique cards though, like snot, butt, skull, curse, and ghost.  Other than that it was very fun.  I liked that it really encouraged imagination and creative skills, plus sales pitch.  I thought that the selection of customer cards was nice.  I liked how each of them included a snake (or more) in the picture on the card. 

I would recommend this product. 

C’s Thoughts (girl, age 8, officially in third grade):

I really liked Snake Oil.  It was fun to be a customer and chose who would get the card.  It was also fun selling the customer a product. 

I did not really like some of the cards, like butt and snot.  They are words we do not use.

It is good for good for people six years and older.   

Dad’s Thoughts:

I enjoyed the Snake Oil game.  It required being creative with the cards in your hand.  You have to be a bit of a fast thinker but that's part of the fun.  The length of each round is good.  It's short enough to keep younger kids entertained and also to move on to something else if they want to.  Or you can keep playing and enjoying the products players come up with.  I liked the Snake Oil game.

Mama really recommends this!

Social Media Links!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OutoftheBoxGames
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OTBgames
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAQiV5S9ZQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUTEAg1uDVwq0LNxFAwM7N5Q

 

Anthem for a Nation from New Liberty Videos (Schoolhouse Review Crew review)

We received this for review purposes!

Product Links: Anthem for a Nation

Vendor Information Link: New Liberty Videos

Age Appeal: General Audience (you will want to watch in first to determine if you want your younger children to watch it)

Format: Physical DVD

Price: $19.95

New Liberty Videos, founded by Brian Barkley, has a variety of different videos.  Our family viewed Anthem for a Nation.  This video is about how much God was involved in the founding of our country and how we need to get back to God.  There are a variety of patriotic songs, information about how important the Bible was in the founding of our country, and the stories of Maria Anne Hirschmann and Kitty Werthmann (they lived in Nazi controlled countries.

Here is a link to a short video about Anthem for a Nation.

Our Experience: 

I was very interested when I learned about New Liberty Videos.  I thought that Dad would also be very interested in this company.  I was not sure what B and C would think, but I knew the information was important for them to learn.

I was excited when I learned we would be reviewing Anthem for a Nation, because I had watched the 15 minute video on the internet and it was very interesting.

I watched it by myself first, then gave it to Dad.  I thought the video was excellent, but I decided to forward through the part about abortion for B and C.  I want them to be aware of all things in life, but there are still subjects they are too young for.

I thought this was an important video and I plan on having my family watch it yearly.

Mama’s Thoughts:

• I really enjoyed the music and videography in this video.  The patriotic music worked perfectly with the theme of the video.  The songs set the scene for all of the information about the history of the founding of the U.S.  The scenery of different parts United States was spectacular.  It was a good representation of the country.
• I never knew how much the Constitution was based on the Bible.  According to the American Political Science Review from 1983, the Constitution is 94% either directly or indirectly based on the Bible.
• When this country was young it was very involved with Christianity.  The Capital used to be a church and President Jefferson sent missionaries to the Native Americans and built Christian schools for them.  Congress bought 20,000 Bible for the troops and others during the Revolutionary War.  Our country was based on the Bible and it lasted until the 1960’s.  That is when Christianity began to be removed from public schools.  It is when that happened that drugs, alcohol, and abortions really grew in number.  That is really sad and as a country we need to change that.
• I thought Maria Anne Hirschmann and Kitty Werthmann’s stories were a crucial part of the video.  I especially liked Werthmann’s story about growing in Austria during Hitler’s reign.  Her story showed me that we have been sucked in by all the promises of good, like health care and preschool, just like Austria was.  We need to take a stand and bring Christianity back!

B’s Thoughts (boy, age 10, officially in fifth grade):   

I learned a lot from Anthem for a Nation, even though I did not like it.  I do not know why I did not like it.  I would have liked it to include more history.  I liked the videography and the music.  I think this would be good for kids ten and up.   

C’s Thoughts (girl, age 8, officially in third grade):

It is good because people can learn history from it.  I really liked the music.  I liked the scenes they went through.  They were really pretty.  It is good for people older than me.

Dad’s Thoughts:

New Liberty Videos' Anthem for a Nation, Relighting the Torch of American's Liberty touches upon several topics that should be more publicly addressed.  First and foremost is how much America and American's have done for the world.  It's a great idea to start talking about the positives instead of the constant negativity and blame being put on America.  Let's start looking up instead of down all the time.  Second, we need more education about our Founding Fathers and their beliefs that they had for this new country.  New Liberty's Video brings to light just how much our founding documents ideals come from the bible itself and not secularism.  This video goes beyond teaching just the three branches of government and their functions.  Third (but not last), the comparison of the number of lives lost from wars and from abortion is a wake-me-upper.  This highlights an immense tragedy that must not only be addressed but must be stopped as well.

What really make Anthem for a Nation, Relighting the Torch of American's Liberty  a great learning tool are the eye witness accounts of Maria Anne Hirschmann and Kitty Werthmann.  We can discuss ideals all day long but when someone tells their story of living through those events and recall what actually happened and how it happened it makes you stop and reflect upon your beliefs.

This entire program should be viewed in every school in every city in every state. It's that important.

Mama highly recommends!

 

Chronicles of…A State History Notebook from Hewitt Homeschooling (Schoolhouse Crew Review)

We received this for review purposes!

Product Links: Chronicles of . . . A State History Notebook  (in binder)

Vendor Information Link: Hewitt Homeschooling

Age Appeal: Ideal for grades 3-8

Format: In a three-ring binder, 100 pages, printed on heavy stock paper

Price: $19.95

Have you been looking for a fun way for your family to learn more about your state or any other state? 

Chronicles of…A State History Notebook from Hewitt Homeschooling is a notebook filled with space to fill out information about your state.  Since it has been placed in a three-ring binder there are pockets on the inside to put maps, brochures, and extra items.  The outside of the notebook has space to fill out the cover or to slide pictures of your own.

The inside of this book has:

• An Introduction
• Student’s Title Page
• Facts, Symbols, Emblems
• Geography, Population
• Industries, Jobs
• History, Government
• Miscellaneous, Field Trips, Photographs

Some of the activities include mapping, tourism, state government, and writing a poem.  Many fun filled hours of learning about the chosen state.

Our Experience: 

We were excited when we had the opportunity to review Chronicles of . . . A State History Notebook.  It was a notebook where we would fill out current and historical information about our state.  We live in two states during the year, Wyoming and Iowa.  We chose Wyoming, because we are currently in Wyoming.

During the review period we worked on filling out the notebook three to four times during the week.  We had started out by working on it a certain number of minutes per day, but we had to change.  It often took us more than our designated time to work on one page.

B, C, and I took turns writing the information we learned from the various state books we checked out of the library.  We also used the computer and the World Almanac.

As we continue to work on this book I know we will learn more and more about the state we love.  This notebook will be something we will enjoy looking at and studying for years to come. 

I think we will have to work on one for Iowa next. 

Mama’s Thoughts:

• I thought the layout of this book was a lot of fun and I liked how it was divided into sections.  The layout was neat, because each page had photo corners.  I liked being able to go to the section I wanted and then having all of the information at my fingertips. 
• The only thing I did not like was that there were no page numbers.  It would have been very helpful to have the page numbers, so we would not have to flip through so many pages to find the page we wanted.  I understand though if people added more pages it would not work, so tabs to divide the sections would work out very well since there are no page numbers.
• My favorite part of this book was the section for photographs and reports.  They had fun selecting and print out pictures to glue into the section.
• I was really glad that our state had just a few counties and most of them had straight edges and corners.  It would have been very difficult to draw the 99 counties of Iowa.
• I really liked how geography was included.  It is great to learn more about a state’s geography.  I liked the sections for the forest, wildlife, and water.  B and C had a lot of fun drawing the different wildlife.  I thought it was especially exciting to learn the different water resources in Wyoming.  There were more rivers lakes and reservoirs that I thought there were.  That is especially important in such a dry state. 
• I am grateful for the introduction for the parent/teacher.  It gave me some good ideas on how to use this notebook.  

B’s Thoughts (boy, age 10, officially in fifth grade):   

I liked Chronicles of…A State History Notebook. 

I thought it would be very helpful if there were page numbers, so then we could look it up in the table of contents.  For example if you wanted, “My Favorite Place in the State,” you could just flip to the desired page. 

My favorite part was the “Photograph Album,” because I got to put in my own photos.

We got to go on a field trip to Fort Caspar.  It was a lot of fun and we wrote a report about it.

I really liked drawing the different wildlife of Wyoming.  Drawing a moose was my favorite thing.  I also drew an elk, bighorn sheep, and bear.  This was my favorite part.

 

C’s Thoughts (girl, age 8, officially in third grade):

I liked Chronicles of…A State History Notebook.  It was fun to do.  My favorite thing was “Natural Resources- Wildlife.”  My other favorite thing was the “Photograph Album.”  It was fun drawing some of the counties for the map. 

It is good for people of all ages.  I recommend it.

Dad’s Thoughts:

Dad was not available.   

Mama highly recommends!

Social Media Links for Hewitt Homeschooling!

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/HewittHomeschooling
Twitter
https://twitter.com/HewittOnline
Pinterest
http://www.pinterest.com/hewittonline/
Google Plus
https://plus.google.com/b/115323246990194958229/+HewittHomeschoolingResources/posts
Hewitt Blog
http://hewitthomeschoolingresources.blogspot.com/

 

Big Book of History

Genre- Juvenile Nonfiction/History/General, Religion/Christianity/History

The Big Book of History

Authors- Laura Welch, Ken Ham, and Bodie Hodge

Published by- Master Books, A Division of New Leaf Publishing Group

Copyrighted- 2010

Number of pages- 15

Age Group- 7-12

Description of book- Panels only, list price $16.99, ISBN: 978-0-89051-632-4

The Big Book of History is a fun fold-out time-line that stretches 15 feet and covers Creation to today.

You will learn:

• Biblical/Christianity- the life of Christ
• World Events- Battle of the Alamo
• Inventions/Technology- musical instruments
• Civilizations- English Civil War

It also includes areas of extra information called, “Did You Know?”

Please click here to see an excerpt!

About the Authors-

Laura Welch is the Editor-in-Chief of New Leaf Publishing and has a great interest in history and writing.  She utilizes her education and experience in publishing, journalism and more to develop and complete her projects.

Ken Ham is from Australia, but now lives in Ohio, where he is CEO/president of Answers in Genesis.  He uses apologetics to communicate biblical truth and historical facts.  He is an author of many books.

Bodie Hodge has both a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering.  Now he is a speaker, writer and researcher for Answers in Genesis USA.

What C (girl, recently turned 6, Kindergarten) Thought-

I like the Big Book of History.  It talked about mummification, the Trojan Horse, and Egyptians.  It discussed building with rocks.  I enjoyed the pictures.  I learned a lot.

I liked everything. I would recommend this book for kids my age.

What B (boy, age 7, almost 8, second grade) Thought-

I liked the Big Book of History.  My favorite sections were the “Did You Know?”  My favorite one was “water then ice.”  It dates back to day one, when the earth was made and continues to 2010. 

It was fun laying it out on the floor.  It really did stretch fifteen feet.  I also had fun zooming along in history.

I think book is good for kids my age.

Dad’s Thoughts-

It’s nice to have a visual timeline to help put events, inventions and people into perspective. Kids can see that “technology” existed long before the iPod, iPad and Playstation 3. Comparing World Events, Biblical/Christianity, Civilizations, and Inventions/Technology on the same timeline is like putting pieces of a puzzle together. The resulting picture makes sense. Too many times today only bits and pieces of information are taught to our kids leaving gaps in their education. The Big Book of History makes great strides in filling those gaps. Well worth the money.

My Thoughts-

I loved the Big Book of History.  Its panels folded out fifteen feet and were full of information.

B wanted to take a look at it as soon as I opened the package.  He had fun unfolding the time-line and zooming along in history.  B and I enjoyed laying on the floor learning about the history of the world.

C and I spent less time as this was not a current interest of hers, but she did enjoy the time she spent with me reading the information she wanted to learn.

I enjoyed everything.  I thought the divisions of Biblical/Christianity, World Events, Inventions/Technology, and Civilizations/Empires was a great idea.  It really helped put history into perspective for me.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone, because there is a lot to learn and it can be a lot of fun. 

Disclosure of Material Connection- I received Big Book of History by Laura Welch, Ken Ham, and Bodie Hodge for free from Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.