Review: Big IQ Kids

About Big IQ Kids

We were recently given the opportunity to review the Premium Version of Big IQ Kids.  We have been using it for about a month now and I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of what it is available on the site.
From the website:
BigIQkids.com presents a unique learning method designed to help each child develop the skills needed to perform to his/her full potential. Our award winning programs are designed for students in grades K-adults and promote spelling efficiency, vocabulary building, math fact mastery and US geography knowledge via multimedia reinforcement and independent learning. We offer both FREE spelling, math, vocabulary, U.S. states programs and spelling and vocabulary games.
It’s pretty simple to use.  Just register your student, make a learning buddy, and off you go. 
It offers two free programs, spelling and vocabulary, as well as the premium version which includes a math and U.S. states program.  The premium version also has a spelling jr. program for your students under third grade.
What’s the difference you ask?  According to Big IQ Kids:
The primary differences between the BigIQkids FREE and PREMIUM programs are the ability of the PREMIUM program to monitor the progress of the student and advance that student only when mastery of the subject matter has been achieved. Additionally, PREMIUM members have their progress tracked, saved, problem areas identified and these findings are reported via email to parents and/or teachers. The PREMIUM program offers students customized buddies, full game page access and the ability to save game coins and gaming high scores. These functions help double the fun while mastering core academic subject matter. The PREMIUM program has very LIMITED advertisement an no ads are displayed during lesson interaction.

 Our Experience

We’ve been using Big IQ Kids math and states programs to supplement our daily studies but we’ve been using the spelling portion as our main spelling program. 

Math:

The math portion is a fun way to review those math facts.  The parent is able to customize the amount and type of problems to fit their child’s learning needs.   The site tracks your child’s progress and reviews the facts until the student has mastered them.  No need to worry about gaps with the mastery approach. 

Big IQ Kids tracks your child’s progress with detailed reports.  You will be able to see at a glance exactly what your child needs to work on.




Another nice feature is the ability to print out activities for your child.  You can print out the current lesson for your child. 





The biggest issue with the math portion that we had was the way that you entered your answer.  If the answer was 157, you have to enter the 7 first, then  the 5, and finally the one.  This caused my daughter a great deal of frustration and effected her time.  She spent more time thinking about how she needed to enter the answer than she did on actually solving the problem. 

U.S. States:

The states programs covers location, spelling, capitals, and abbreviations.  The lessons also include fun and interesting facts about each state.  This is my daughter’s favorite part.

Spelling: 

Like the math program, the spelling is completely customizable within the premium version.  The parent is able to add their own spelling words or just use the lists that Big IQ Kids provides. 
There are a variety of games used to help the student practice the word lists.  And, like the math, you can print the lessons if you desire.


All the programs offer the student reward coins for a job well done.  The students can use these coins to play games in the game center or purchase things for their learning buddies.  My daughter is crazy about the games so it is a real motivator for her.

The Pros & Cons

Pros:

*You can use the program for FREE
*Tons of learning to be had.
*Game rewards are great student motivators
*The premium versions are customizable and do a great job tracking your child’s progress.
*Many of the lessons are printable.

Cons:

*The computer voice can be a tad irritating.
*Entering the math answers is not intuitive and can lead to frustration.

Final Thoughts

Big IQ Kids has been a lot of fun for my daughter.  She enjoys completing the lessons and often asks to do more than I had scheduled.   She doesn’t even mind that she’s learning and that’s always a good thing.  =o)

FYI

Website:  http://www.bigiqkids.com/
Pricing: A variety of pricing packages to fit your needs.
Ages: K-adult



Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was given a subscription to Big IQ Kids for review purposes.  All opinions are my own.

Check out more Big IQ Crew reviews here.

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One With the Not-So-English Tea Party

I’m a bit behind on my wrap-ups, and my schooling, because we went to Michigan for ten days.  So today I’m going to share a little bit of what we were doing before we left.

So, part of Wintercrap’s Promise’s Children Around the World program consists of having cultural gatherings after every country study.  Yeah, right.  I’m am not that mother. LOL But I was planning on making a recipe or two from each country with the occasional gathering. 

So we decided to host an English tea party since we had just finished with our study of England.   Or in our case, a not-so-English tea party.   We’re not ones for a lot of prep so we decided to do it “our way.”  Or really, my way. 

To give you an idea of what my way consists of, take a peek at the invite that I sent to a few friends.  =o)

Mackenzie would like to hold a "traditional cream tea" (if you count what I plan to do as traditional which you won't lol) tea party to celebrate surviving 3 ridiculous weeks of winter crap.  We would like y'all to come.

Note: This tea will not involve any actual tea.  Unless you count crystal light peach tea or apple juice as tea. We don't even own a tea pot.   Bring your own real tea if you insist. 

Mackenzie will probably be in fancy dress, I will not and I do not require it.  Mackenzie does require it of Ava. lol

Real scones are not what they serve at starbucks.  But boy are they easy to make.  They involve jam and clotted cream. I don't like to eat things with the word clot in them.  Plus, I looked at a recipe.  It's just whipping cream cooked in your oven on way low forever. Another involved cheese but not cream cheese. Eww!  Therefore, I will have whipped cream of the cool whip variety because I know that will taste good even if the scones don't.  And for the love of all that is proper, it's cream before jam.  Don't embarrass me by doing it backwards.

So now you have the gist of what our ghetto-fabulous tea is all about.  We served fresh scones with jam, whipped cream, and lemon curd.  I actually made the lemon curd.  In the microwave.  It was FABULOUS!!! 

We also had fairy cakes (cup cakes), decorated by Mackenzie and fresh fruit.  I didn’t think to take a picture of the spread.  I’ve never in my life forgotten to take a picture of anything before.  Go figure!  All my hard work on scones and curd and not one photo. lol

Mackenzie practiced some English quilling and decorated her “party.”  This brilliant idea came from the $15 Expedition Earth curriculum.   I made a couple myself.  It’s harder than it sounds. LOL

Decorating her fairy cakes.

All ready for her party.  Check out my quilled tea cups behind her. They look better from afar. LOL

The party guests.  I let Kayleigh invite a guest too.

Time for Tea!  Such as it is.

And because I know that you all look forward to it, here’s one of our WP funnies from that week.  This is our map of Europe, with the figures for England and Ireland on it.

I’m predicting that this map will be totally covered before we’re finished.  We won’t even be able to tell it’s a map.  Woot!!  Imagine if they did all the European countries. LOL  I’d have to stick them on the back too.

Check out the other wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. 

Review: Civilize This! by Griddly Games

We recently were given the opportunity to review a game called Civilize This!  by Griddly Games.   When I first signed up for this review, I didn’t know much about this game.  I was just very in love with the name of it.  Civilize This!  was a title that spoke to my personality. LOL  Imagine my surprise when I realized that it was an expansion pack for the Wise Alec Trivia game, which I already owned.  Super cool!

About Civilize This!

From Griddly Games
Cultural trivia with a adventurous twist!
Hello Time Travelers! Explore the world’s cultures across time with the trivia game based on the award-winning Wise Alec™ Family Trivia Game. There are 300 questions to test your knowledge of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern cultures. Two levels of questions on each card let everyone from young scholars to history buffs play together. Plus, Wise Alec™ cards will have you doing tongue twisters, brain teasers, and fun exercises!
The cards from this game can also be used to expand your own set of Wise Alec™ Family Trivia Game.
It was also chosen as one of Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s products.

Our Experience

To say we loved it is an understatement.  We’ve had so much fun playing it, and we’ve been playing it a lot. 
There are two ways to play it, as a stand alone game or with the Wise Alec Trivia Game.  Since we already own the original trivia game we played it with the board.  But it’s just as fun and easy to play without it. 


Civilize This!  is a trivia game with a fun twist.  The trivia questions cover three time periods: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern cultures and comes with f0ur decks of cards and a colored die.  There are two levels of difficulty to accommodate various levels. 

Along with the trivia cards, there are Wise Alec cards.  Wise Alec cards range from doing a silly stunt, saying a tongue twister, or getting an extra chance on a challenging question.  They get you moving and laughing!


The game is simple to play.  You go around answering questions and winning  points until a player reaches the pre-determined number.  This also allows you to customize the length of the game. 
You can further level the “playing field” for large age gaps by requiring older players to earn more points.   Or you can have the older players answer the harder questions for the same amount of points as the easier ones.  There are so many ways to customize this game to fit your players.
This game is a fun way to learn or review world history.  We are both learning facts that we didn’t know and Mackenzie begs to play it several times a week.  If that isn’t high praise, I don’t know what is. 
I see a couple more of their expansion packs in our future.  =o)

FYI

Age Range: Ages 8+   
2 - 4 players    
Price: $14.99
Website: http://www.griddlygames.com/products/wisealec.html
As a member of the TOS Review Crew I was given the game  in return for my honest opinion.  All opinions are my own.

Review: How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids

About How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids

From the publisher:
How well do you really know your kids? What has God shown you about who they are and who they will become? He has sent these children into your home at this specific time for His glorious purposes. Indeed, you have been invited on the adventure of a lifetime, a journey on which you will see walls fall, seas parted, and giants slain. You don't need special skills or training for this journey—you need only to seek God and hold tight to His mighty hand! As with so many things, the first step to having a heart for your children is knowing your heavenly Father. As you seek daily to share His heart for your children, keep this inspirational book close at hand.

My Experience

Every homeschooler goes through highs and lows along their homeschooling journey.  Some days it’s hard to remember why you entertained the thought of homeschooling in the first place.

There are times when the kids are so off the hook that you dream of putting them on that big, yellow bus.  Other times, it’s you who’s losing it and you wonder if spending the day trapped with mom’s insanity is really what God had in mind for His precious children.  At least, that’s been my experience. 

What I got from this book was encouragement, some conviction, and a renewed sense of purpose.  It’s a book that was written to improve my homeschool, and yours.  This book gets to the heart of the matter alright, starting with the person reading the book.  It’s all about the relationships.

The author shares her personal experiences and what has, and hasn’t, worked for her.  She covers five different areas:

H – Have a heart for things of God
E – Enrich your marriage
A – Accept your kids
R – Release them to God
T – Teach them the truth

Reading this book encouraged me to improve myself so that I can be a better example of Christ for my children.  It reminded me that educating my children is about so much more then teaching the three Rs.  It also reminded me that I am not in this alone.

The book won’t give you an instant fix but it will give a plan to get to where you want to be and a renewed sense of purpose. 

This is a book that I’m going to read before the beginning of every school year, and whenever needed in between.  It’s that inspiring. 

FYI…

Website:https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=182           You can preview the book on the Apologia  website.
Price: $13.00
Read more reviews of this wonderful book at The Homeschool Crew Blog.



I was given a copy of this book for review purposes.  All opinions are my own.

Tot School: RRS Unit 2, Pt. 2

Kayleigh is 42 months

Raising Rock Stars

This week we finished up Unit 2, on Tt.

We did the power point show on the iPad this week.  Kayleigh calls it the big iTouch. LOL  Which I guess is fairly accurate.  She LOVES the turtle reader from this unit.

She wrote Tt on her verse sheet.

She cut and taped her memory verse, Exodus 20:15.  Boy was she upset that it wasn’t long.  ROFL

Painting her Ten Commandments craft

Writing T

Other Activities

She made play doh Tt s and pushed pony beads into them.  The mats come from Homeschool Creations.

Our game this week was Candy Land Castle

She painted this Rainbow Shape Turtle from Making Learning Fun.

She worked in her Kumon books, Let’s Sticker and Paste and Let’s Color

We had a new tool, Tangoes Jr., in one of her boxes.  She really loved it.  So did big sis. LOL  I found it on clearance at Target.

Using our Shape Tracers from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Literature

We started reading in the Eloise Wilkins Treasury from our Sonlight p 3/4.  Such a sweet book!  She wanted to read the stories over and over.  And she pulled it off the shelf on her own several times this week.

We finished “rowing” Jesse Bear What Will You Wear? Here’s a quick look at our activities.  You’ll get a more detailed look when I finish my review in the next few weeks. 

Click on the Tot School and Preschool Corner buttons to see what other tots are doing.

 

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One With Maps That Include Iceland

Ahhh, week 3 of the new year is done.  Woot!!  I know you’re probably waiting to hear about our misadventures with Winter Promise but, of course, I’m saving those for last.  =o)

Here’s the skinny on our week.

Bible

We are still reading in Genesis and Mackenzie is still enjoying the Bible Study Guide for All ages sheets.  It’s nice how they use a variety of activities to drive a point home.  One minute she’s drawing, writing a letter the next, mapping another day.  Very cool!

Math

This week she had her first lesson in adding fractions.  Her she is with her math teacher, Mr. Demme.  =o)

Here she is doing some adding with the fraction overlays.

Language Arts

We’re still waiting on  Advanced Language Lessons and Writing With Skill to be released.  It’s looking like October.  But Word Roots Beginnings and Writer’s Apprentice are keeping us busy.

This week in WA she was writing “ads” and got some practice using “vivid verbs.”  It also gave us an excuse to get a neat thesaurus app for the iPad.  Our current thesaurus was a bit young for this level.  I guess it was good enough for kindergarten, when I bought it. LOL

Science

Still love, love, loving it.  We started learning about the skeletal system this week.  Who knew they were so fascinating?  And who knew that part of the reason that I’m so forgetful these days might be because I don’t get enough calcium?  Not me!  LOL

We did a little project with some play doh to see what life without bones would be like.

We saw just how much of a flop life would be without bones.

Add in some  “bones” and problem solved.

We did another experiment to show how God designed the brain to have a little extra protection besides the skull.

Two “brains”, one with fluid between the “brain” and the “skull”, the other with just the “skull” for protection.

Now run around with your “brains” to simulate an active lifestyle.

Uh-oh!!

It certainly looks like the protection for our brain was a good design after all. 

Social Studies

As you might know, our studies with Winter Promise have not been going well.  =o)  Things like accuracy and facts are important to me when it comes to my daughter’s education.  Call me crazy!

The main bone of contention, besides trying to figure out what the assignments actually are in the error-riddled IG, has been the junk they call “maps.”

So, I’ve tossed their maps to the curb and this week I’ve been using different ones.  Ones that are accurate.  And I bought this wonderful “around the world” program called Expedition Earth.   It was written by a homeschool mother.  It was only $15.  It’s maps are accurate.  It’s notebooking pages are VASTLY SUPERIOR to those in Winter Promise.  The quality of the pages were miles above what we got with WP.  When she writes out an assignment in the IG, the page numbers are correct.  I did check them all.  =o)

So I’ve kind of been melding the two programs.  EE is meant for younger kids so it wouldn’t do to be our spine.  I’ve kind of been adding in some of the WP books to EE and making something workable for us. 

We did continue with the Draw Your World (DYW) assignments from WP, but we used accurate maps.  I have some from Knowledge Quest, Homeschool in the Woods, and I’ve been offered an awesome review of a product called WonderMaps from Timberdoodle that look AWESOME.  Completely customizable and totally wonderful.  I can’t wait to get the program.  God was certainly answering prayers for us.

But I have to share this weeks sketch from DYW.  So funny.  So ironic.  So like WP.  LOL  I almost want to send them a thank you note for the laugh that they gave me.

You might need to click on the picture to be able do read it.  Do it!!  It’s totally worth it. 

In case you think I’m lying, here’s their map.

Here’s what we used.  Mackenzie was just a tad excited to see Iceland actually on a map.  LOL  It just goes to show that the saying about “the little things” is so true…

Yesterday we went on a field trip to The Mariners Museum with some friends.  We were visiting the section on explorers because that’s what one of our friends was currently studying.  But we could always use a review.  I’m going to write a separate, more detailed, post about the trip later.  But I had to share some pictures of what pertained to our studies.  You’re going to LOVE it!!!!

Why is Mackenzie giving this display a thumbs up, you might wonder?

I’ll show you why…

That’s right, Iceland baby!!!!  On a 17th century map.

Here’s a really, really, really old globe.

And guess what?  It has Iceland on it too.

I could go on and on and on with more examples but you get the idea.  So here’s the question of the day…

If 17th century map makers where Iceland is, why doesn’t Winter Promise?  Disturbing.

Oh, we were focusing on the United Kingdom this week.  I don’t really have much to say.  It wasn’t terribly exciting or informative.   I’m not even sure as to what we were supposed to have learned.   Some of the books are really good, like Material World and How People Live.  Others are, well, published by WP and not so good.  But despite some good books,  there just doesn’t seem to be any cohesiveness to the study.   We finished the week wondering what the point was.

Thank goodness I paid the $15 for EE so we could add some interest and facts to our learning.  Her notebooking pages added some focus for us.

Here’s a good example of the randomness and lack of focus in WP.  In the notebook, which is just a bunch of cutting and pasting and filling in of facts,...  And now I have to go off on a tangent and mention that the facts that they ask aren’t even covered in any of the readings.  That’s just weird.  Thank goodness for google.

Anyhow, in the notebook, they have you cut out a picture of Stonehenge and glue it in.   But they don’t give you any information about Stonehenge in any of the readings.  It’s just randomly thrown in the notebook.  Random seems to be a good way to describe WP.

So I was looking through the various books that came with it and I grabbed one called Fun and Traditions in Many Lands, published by WP.  So I thumb through the British Isle pages.  There was a small blurb about English crackers, invitations, and, lo and behold, Stonehenge.  Granted it was a small paragraph of info, but still better than nothing. 

Why on earth weren’t these pages scheduled or, at least, given a mention in the IG as something to check out?  It’s mind boggling.

That tiny paragraph on Stonehenge suggested make a “model” out of brownies.  Did you say brownies?  We were in.  You need a lot more brownies to make it to scale. 

While this week was not a complete success, at least there weren’t any tears.   Gone are the days of easy lesson planning; I’ve still got a lot of tweaking to do.  At least we got some chocolate out of it.  LOL 

Be sure to head over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see other Wrap-Ups.