Talking Fingers, Inc.- Read, Write & Type

Product: Online version of Read, Write & Type
Vendor Contact Information:
Talking Fingers, Inc.
830 Rincon Way
San Rafael, California 94903
Phone: 1-800-674-9126
e-mail: contact@talkingfingers.com
Age Appeal: Ages 6-8
Format: online program
Price: Home online program is a five year subscription 1 user for $35, 2 users for $55, 3 users for $70, 4 users for $85, 5 users for $100



Reading, writing and typing all in one program? Yes. You can get all of this with Talking Finger's online version of Read, Write & Type.

After you have chosen which home online program to use and made your purchase you will want to register your account. After that step your kids will be even closer to learning reading, writing and typing. You will set up their accounts with usernames and passwords. Now your kids can begin learning.

Your kids will participate:

• Home screen- meet the letters
• Theater, video store and fair booth- phonics skills
• Park- blend sounds together
• Story tree- build words and write simple stories

Optional Activities:

• Power fountain- build speed and accuracy
• Hall of fame- Earn certificates for achievements
• E-mail tower- send “e-mails”
• Spaceship challenge

As a reward each student will be able to read a story when they have finished a level. Those stories are found here.

On the website under downloads you will find your online manual, activity book (with more ideas for reading) and a practice keyboard.

What I Liked:

• B and C can do this program themselves.
• B and C are asking me every day if they can play the games.
• The instructions are clear.
• B and C can strengthen their weak areas by repeating the activities.

What I Disliked:

• Vexor could be scary to younger kids.
• The program says both the letter sound and what the letter says.
• C is with the pointer finger, which seems very difficult to me.

What B (boy, age six almost seven) Liked and Disliked: I liked everything, but I agree with Momma. Vexor could be scary to young kids. Vexor could be scary, because he sucked up the letters. I liked that the Leftway and Rightway could talk. It was hard trying to get the storytellers across the playground. I recommend this to other kids my age, because it is a great way to learn how to type.

What C (girl, age four almost five) Liked and Disliked: I love everything. It was hard because Vexor made it tricky. He made it tricky by changing the rules. It was easy typing one letter at a time. In Vexor's ship it was easy to push S if the word began with S or spacebar if it did not. There was nothing I disliked. I recommend this for kids my age who would like to learn how to properly type.

I would recommend this product. For more reviews for Read, Write and Type go to The Homeschool Crew review.

Other Products Available: CD versions of Read, Write & Type (not for Windows 7 or Mac 10.6), Word Qwerty – online and CD versions

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes through The Homeschool Crew. All links were current when posted.

Digital Frog International- Digital Field Trip Series

Product: The Digital Field Trip Series
Vendor Information: Digital Frog International, 1-800-621-3764 (FROG), www.digitalfrog.com
Age Appeal: K-12th grades, there is a lot of reading for teachers of younger grades, so use the link below to try the demos.
Format: DVD, contains e-books (workbooks and teacher guides)
Price: $125 for Home License

Want to get away, but you can't leave home? Then come take a trip with Digital Frog Field Trip series to the desert, rainforest or wetlands.

Each field trip group has the same basic sections:

• the field trip using QuickTime Virtual Reality.
• study of the area.
• different types of rainforests, deserts or wetlands.
• mechanisms of the rainforest, desert or wetland.
• human impact or endangered areas.

The easiest way to start is to begin in the field trip. In the field trip you will go to multiple posts where you will explore the area learning more about the plants and animals. In the field notes, you can locate the organisms to study. There are pictures, text and sometimes videos to help you learn more. For the more difficult words to pronounce you there may be a “Say-it” icon to help you learn how to pronounce it.

You can go back at any point in time during your field trip experience. There is also a handy menu and map of the digital field trip.

You will not want to forget to go through your “my computer” icon and explore the workbooks, graphic resources, and CD text.

To be able to try a demo, you can join the free Digital Frogger Club, here. When you try the demo you will have a good idea of what the field trips are like.



What I Liked:

• So much complete information.
• Workbooks for each field trip.
• Complete text for each field trip available.
• Extra graphics (silhouettes and line drawings) to be used for flash cards, to color or pad for games (I would like to use them for a flannel board).
• Excitement from B (age six) and C (age 4) each time program is used.
• Blue checks appear on the field trip map when the activity is complete.

What I Disliked:

• Wish e-books and extra material would automatically download, not just the field trips.
• The teacher's guide for the Desert Field Trip was not complete, so it had to be downloaded from the Internet.
• When enlarging the screen it would be nice if the text would then fill the screen, because it would be easier to read.

What B (boy, age six almost seven) Liked and Disliked: I liked everything about it really. My favorite field trip was the wetlands. I liked seeing the beaver and the caddis fly! And the beaver run. The beavers use the beaver run to to help carry the trees to the lodge. And we have beavers at the ranch. We've seen beaver dams at the ranch before. A tree has fallen on a path, so we can't go that way. A beaver might use the tree for it's dam. I liked seeing the dragon fly in the wetlands at post nine. I liked learning about every animal and tree.

Do you want to learn more about the rainforest? Yes! When the vines grow from one tree to another and one tree falls, the other will fall too. When they fall, they will form a tree fall gap.

I think Momma liked it too. I know I did. Thank you to Digital Frog International for making the field trips.

What C (girl, age four almost five) Liked and Disliked: I loved everything about it. I really liked putting my own photos into the wetlands workbook. And I liked taking pictures of a frog at the wetlands we visited. I liked learning about the plants and animals at each post, like the dragonfly. I liked seeing the duck. I didn't dislike anything.

Windows System Requirements: Need a Pentium II with DVD drive using Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7. Pentium III is recommended. 32 MB required (64 recommended) and QuickTime 7 or later.

Mac System Requirements: G3 300 with DVD drive needed and Mac 10.3.9 or later. Needs QuickTime 7 or later.

More Digital Frog International Products: Digital Frog 2.5, Science Matrix: Cell Structure and Functions, each individual field trip on CD

I would recommend this product.

There are more reviews of this product. Please go here to read more.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes. All links were current when posted.

Homeschool Crew - Schleich

For the past 75 years Schleich has been designing and producing quality figurines. Based in Germany, Schleich began business by designing figurines of comic figures, such as smurfs, snoopy and the muppet show. In the 1980's the line was expanded with animals and again in 2003 with the knights, Wild West, and Elves playworlds.

The inspiration for the toy is often taken from nature and designed with the imaginative play of a child in mind. Each Schleich toy is designed by a master craftsman, made from a variety of plastics and a special softener, then painted by hand.




The kids were very excited to learn we would be reviewing Schleich. They would ask almost every day when we would receive them. The package arrived finally (for them). We received the Prezwalskis horse, SwabianHall piglet, donkey, Dartmoor Pony, Asian elephant calf, okapi, gnu and gnu calf. The kids immediately took them out of the packages and got the horse trailer, livestock trailer and grain truck, so they would be able to feed the animals.

We also spent time looking up each animal on the internet to learn more about the animal. One thing we learned was that the okapi is bigger than a gnu.

What I Liked:

• site easy to navigate
• sturdy life-like toys
• catalog is free and provides endless hours of entertainment when on trips
• can be played with for years to come
• lets a child's imagination run wild

What I Disliked:

• store locator on site not working

What B Liked and Disliked (age 6 almost 7): I liked that you could play with them. And we learned about the wildebeest and how it was called a gnu. I thought it was neat because I have a Schleich jeep and horse trailer that I could haul the animals around in. And I have a cattle semi that I used to haul the pig. It was funny when Momma and I learned that the wildebeest and gnu have the same name. Ha ha ha. There was nothing I disliked. The end.

What C Liked and Disliked (age 4 almost 5): I liked them. There was nothing I disliked.

We would recommend to both boys and girls.

Age Appeal: best for ages 3 and older

Price: $2.00 and up

Vendor Contact Information: www.schleich-s.com
3258 Hawthorne Road
Ottawa, Canada K1G 3W9
e-mail: sales@schleich-s.com

More Schleich Products: farm life, wildlife, world of knights, world of American Indians, world of fantasy (smurfs and Bayala)

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes. All links were current when posted.

Homeschool Crew - Salem Ridge Press

Do you have a difficult time finding good quality books for you and your children? Then look no further than Salem Ridge Press and it's founder, Daniel Mills.

Salem Ridge takes a great deal of time locating and choosing books from the 1800's and early 1900's to republish. The books are chosen based on morality and ability to teach character according to the Bible. The company decides if any editing needs to be done such as leaving out a kiss or derogatory comment, or adding definitions of words or historical timelines.

Twenty-seven books are now being republished and we received three of them to read.



Mary Jane – Her Visit by Clara Ingram Judson was the first book we read. In this book five-year-old Mary Jane visits her grandparents in the country and has fun hunting eggs, playing with baby mice and rabbits, going on picnics and having her cousin and sister visit. Please go here to read the first chapter as a pdf.



Next was Soldier Fritz and the Enemies He Fought by Emma Leslie. It is the autumn of 1525 in Germany where a young boy, Fritz, choose a Bible as a birthday present from a peddler's pack. The peddler, Carl, shares with him what the Bible is about and how Fritz could be a soldier for the Lord like Dr. Luther. Father Anselm of the Church does not approve and Carl has to help Fritz, his mother, sister and two servants escape the Castle of Thorn where they will live with the charcoal-burners until Fritz's father, Count Eric is able to return and rescue them. Please go here to read the first chapter as a pdf.



We finished by reading The American Twins of the Revolution by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Roger and Sally Priestly's father is a general in General Washington's army. General Priestly secretly comes to the house one night to ask Mrs. Priestly and the children to keep money for the payroll safe. General Howe of the British then comes to the house and threatens the family. The family and Uncle Jude and Aunt Hitty (slaves) is able to escape with the money and food supplies. They are chased by General Howe's soldiers until the Colonial soldiers help them and they are taken to General Washington's camp and their father. Please go here to read the first chapter as a pdf.

What I Liked: Learning about Salem Ridge Press and their republished books was an enjoyable experience for my family and me. It can be difficult today to find quality books, without spending a great deal of time researching the books. I knew I did not have to pre-read these books, because they were coming from a company whose mission is to republish quality work.

The addition that I liked the best was that of the definitions. There were words that I would not have explained to the kids, if the definitions had not been there.

The children and I both looked forward each day that we were able to read these books.

What I Disliked: Two of the books we received were e-books and I discovered that I do not like read books as e-books, if I were purchasing the titles it would be as a physical books. It tied us to the computer and it was hard on my eyes.

What B (age six almost seven) Liked and Disliked: I liked that Mary Jane's doctor came when she was hit by a roadster. And I disliked that that crazy driver hit Mary Jane. I really disliked that. I disliked that Mary Jane was standing in the middle of the road in the dark. I was not sure if the headlights were on or not. I liked Soldier Fritz, because he fought his pride and his passion. I disliked that Soldier Fritz knocked Elsie down the narrow stone stairs. I liked that the twins' father came home by surprise. Sally and Roger were told by their father to not tell any living soul, oh and I am sorry for not saying I liked this part, that he had been there. And I liked every bit of it. The end. Yes, these books would be good for kids my age.

What C (age four almost five) Liked and Disliked: I didn't like Soldier Fritz, he hit his sister. I liked Mary Jane, because they were nice. I think kids my age would not like Soldier Fritz, but would like Mary Jane.

Age Appeal, Number of Pages, Republished and Price of the Books We Received:
Mary Jane – Her Visit- ages 6-10, 190 pages, republished 2008, softcover $12.95, hardcover $22.95, e-book $9.95
Soldier Fritz and the Enemies He Fought- ages 8-adult, 137 pages, republished 2006, softcover $10.95, hardcover $20.95, e-book $7.95
The American Twins of the Revolution- ages 8- adult, 204 pages, republished 2007, softcover $12.95, hardcover $22.95, e-book $9.95

Vendor Contact Information: www.salemridgepress.com
Salem Ridge Press LLC
4263 Salem Drive
Emmaus, PA 18049

More Salem Ridge Press Products: Books by Caroline Austin, William W. Canfield, Alice Corkran, Clara Ingram Judson, Emma Leslie, George Manville Fenn, Lucy Fitch Perkins

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes. All links were current when posted.

Time4Learning

“It was really fun watching the movie with the alphabet and zoo animals, where you click the letter and a little girl tells us about that zoo animal that starts with that letter,” says B.

If this sounds like something your children would like to do, then Time4Learning is the interactive Internet program you will want to use. Time4Learning can be used for homeschool, afterschool, or summer use.

The pre-k level has two separate levels. Each level has different sections such as alphabet, colors, shapes, rhymes, number, weather, on the farm, space, time and many more. In each section your youngster will participate in activities such as matching, finding, storybooks and paint it.

The kindergarten level contains math and reading. There are 18 chapters in the reading level. Each chapter contains the sight and sound of two letters, reading comprehension, phonological and phonemic awareness. There is a different anchor story for each chapter.

There are six fun filled chapters to explore in math level. Each chapter contains different activities to learn more about recognizing numbers, money, basic addition, subtraction, graphing and probability.

What I liked: Time4Learning was a fun program for B and C. They both enjoy playing on the computer and this program allowed them to explore and learn different subjects. I would recommend this to families who enjoy playing and learning on the computer.

What I disliked: There was nothing about the program that I disliked. The only problem was that the computer we had access to was too old to use, so we had to go to the library. Each of the kids were involuntarily logged off a couple of times when they were in the middle of something, but that only happened once.

What B (age 6) liked and disliked: “I liked everything. My favorite was the zoo. I even told them how much I liked it. There was nothing I disliked.”

What C (age 4) liked and disliked: “I liked everything in school. My favorite was helping Jo-Jo the mouse. I did the second level for my age group. There was nothing I disliked.”

Age Appeal: ages 4-6.

Vendor Information: Time4Learning, 2010, Internet, $19.95/month for first child and $14.95/month for each additional child

Vendor Contact Information: http://www.time4learning.com/ or (954)771-0914

More Time4Learning Products: This product has different levels for grades pre-k to eighth grade.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes.

Peterson Directed Handwriting

Are your children having problems learning how to write their letters? Then Peterson Directed Handwriting may be just what you need.

We were given three different levels of handwriting: kindergarten, first grade and second grade.

In Kindergarten Print the three objectives are:
providing daily exercises to learn and internalize the proper sequence of movements.
provide regular opportunity to take letter lesson into your reading lesson.
collect and track fluency with a timed test.

The daily lesson procedure is :
illustrate and describe
air writing
finger-tracing
write and say

In Grade One Print the student will continue to develop patterns, practice them and apply the concepts by turning the letters to words.

In Printing Fluently the student will work on mastering writing position and rhythmic movement.

The On Your Mark Game is played by placing a pencil on the circle, the student closing his/her eyes and writing the letter that is verbally given.

What I Like: I thought it was a lot of fun to say the steps out loud as we worked to write the letters. It was an excellent way to see how many of the different letters have the same steps/strokes.

What I Dislike: There was nothing I disliked. We were using both Kindergarten and Grade one at the same time, so we had to pick the same letter to work on, otherwise it was too difficult to say the strokes for two different letters at the same time.

What B (age six) Likes and Dislikes: I like learning to write letters. I dislike saying it because it is too hard to concentrate on writing the letter.

What C (age 4) Likes and Dislikes: I like finger tracing. I don't like saying it out loud.

Age Appeal: Kindergarten Print, ages 4-5; Grade One Print, age 6; Printing Fluently, age 7; On Your Mark Game, any age

Vendor Information: Peterson Directed Handwriting; 2010; e-book; $19.95/level; On Your Mark Game price unavailable

Vendor Contact Information: http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/, phone number (724) 837-4900

More Available Products: Software to use on tablets, cursive handwriting products and many more

Disclaimer Statement: I received this product free for reviewing purposes.

Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others

Are you going on a trip or do you know someone who is? If the answer is yes, then you will want to purchase Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others, by Donna Rees.

This 91-page e-book will help you build kits for people of all ages who need extra entertainment, whether traveling in the car or in a plane.

This comprehensive e-book has:
a chapter dedicated to the who, what, when, where, why and how of the basics;
the plan, the presentation and distribution;
many pictures to show you different ways to build your kits;
gift and game ideas for people of different ages and genders; a list of recommended books for ages 3-adult.

What I Liked: I thought this e-book was wonderful. My two children (ages 6.5 and 4.5) and I make several 16-hour trips and shorter trips per year. While they do not need many things to entertain themselves, travel kits would provide a special treat for them.

I really enjoyed the photos, why duplicate gifts are a good idea for young children, and the mention of using Internet sites where audio books can be downloaded for free.

After I read this book I was so excited that I thought about how I could build a kit for my family or for other families with small children.

This e-book did not leave anything out. I had no questions.

My favorite part was the list of books at the end. It would be fun to include several of those books in a kit.

What I Disliked: The only thing I disliked about Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others was that the file was large at 8.5 MB. It was too much for the older computer I was using with 56k dial-up.

Age Appeal: All ages for using the kits, but an adult would likely make the kits.

Vendor Information: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, 2010, e-book, $12.45

Vendor Contact Information: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

More Products: Wannabe Series products, Download N Go Series products, and more.

Disclosure Statement: I have received this product free of charge for review purposes.