We Choose Virtues {Character Training}

One of our FAVORITE things that we have EVER reviewed is We Choose Virtues! This is the second time we have reviewed for them. The first time, we reviewed the Virtue Clue Cards and The Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Book.
This time around we received the Parenting Cards {faith based}, which are AWESOME! My kids were so excited to be hanging out with the Kids of VirtueVille again! They enjoy the fun characters and really do try to emulate them - which is totally the point!

We Choose Virtues is a tool for Parents, Homeschoolers and Teachers to use to teach character traits to children. The genius of We Choose Virtues are the catch phrases!

The Virtue: Each Virtue is preceded by the words “I am.” Not “I hope to be” or “I wish I was”. “I am” creates positive momentum and a sense of personal ownership. “I am Content” for example.

The Catchphrase: More than just a definition, the catchphrases are positive, practical and precise action statements that form the core of this system. Use them throughout the day to reinforce right attitudes and actions. “I am Content. I have my ‘Wanter’ under control”.

The Antonyms: The antonyms are a glimpse into the person they no longer want to be. These explain the negative form of the Virtue by using the phrases “I am not” and “I don’t”. “I am Content. I have my ‘Wanter’ under control. I am not bored, greedy or always wanting more and I don’t beg or whine!”

The VirtueVille Kids are cute, colorful and great role models. Their catchy names help the children to remember them and their character quality. Even my 3 year remembers their names and character qualities that they promote.

Meet the Virtueville Kids and the virtues they teach:

• Airplane Betty Jane - Attentive
• Piggy Bank Frank - Patience
• Feather Heather - Forgiving
• Cake Jake - Content
• Kettle Gretel - Kind
• Gerbil & Jill - Gentle
• Duck & Chuck - Diligent
• Hat Mat - Helpful
• Stop Sign Madeline - Self Control
• Oboe Joe - Obedient
• Hockey Stick Nick - Honest
• Penny Jenny - Perseverance

The Parenting Cards have been a wonderful addition to our day. Each day we pick a new VirtueVille Kid to talk about and be like, we alternate boy and then girl. I introduce each of the Kids, we read the corresponding scripture verse and the story about each kid.

We really enjoyed the Virtue Clue Cards {very much},but I am really glad that we have the Parenting Cards too. The Virtue Clue Cards are small, like a business card - great for keeping in our memory box to go over daily along with our memory verses. The Parenting Cards, which I laminated, are larger and allow for more information. The larger cards have the story of how/why each VirtueVille Kid got their name, teachable moments that give ideas to incorporate the current character quality, a Virtue Challenge and more! I think that the Parenting Cards and the Virtue Clue Cards work very well together.

We Choose Virtues Family Kit

My kids informed me yesterday that they want to go back over each child, again! They asked if when doing Stop Sign Madeline they could play Red Light, Green Light and have a tea party when we get back to Kettle Gretel. And of course, they want to bake a cake with Cake Jake!!

Now that we have them hanging up, we are going to just continue focusing on one VirtueVille Kid and character trait per week!

I would absolutely recommend We Choose Virtues! The prices are reasonable and their products are definitely worthy. There are several products to choose from:

• Homeschool Kit - Faith Based - $98.99
• Family Kit - Faith Based - $69.99
• Parenting Cards - $34.99
• VirtueVille Clue Cards - $5.95
• Virtue Flash Cards - $15.99 - this looks really cool, the kids can play games with these!

May is free Shipping Month at WCV, so you better hurry!  You can also join the WCV Facebook Page to keep current on new products and promo codes.

What does your family do for Character Training?

Disclaimer: I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine. Also note that I am an affiliate for We Choose Virtues and there are affiliate links in this post : )

Bringing Books to Life - Wrap Up

I had such a great time putting together my Bringing Books to Life posts for the TOS Crew's 5 days of Series.  I thought I would go ahead and put them all together in one post for easy reading and for those of you that missed it. 

After reading with your kids, here are some fun things to do that they will not soon forget!

Day 1 - Books in the Kitchen!

Day 2 - Build It!

Day 3 - Write It!

Day 4 - Dramatize It!

Day 5 - Arts and Crafts!

What do you do to Bring Books to Life?

TOS Crew: Heritage History

Heritage History is a homeschool curriculum company based on classical children's history books.  This company strives to produce the easiest, least expensive and most enjoyable way to learn traditional history.  They focus on living books instead of textbooks -which we love!

Here is how The Heritage History company explains the approach that they take to teaching history (from their website):

•Takes a Living Books rather than a textbook approach to history—students read a variety of engaging biographies and historical sketches rather than one comprehensive text.

•Is based on national histories rather than epochal histories—students study one civilization at a time, rather than contrasting contemporaneous civilizations.

•Is narrative rather than analytical—students are introduced to the great characters and events of history without being required to make comparisons or draw conclusions.

•Focuses on studying the most important periods of Western Civilization in depth, rather than touching lightly upon dozens of unrelated cultures.

•Explicitly encourages students to pursue historical topics of personal interest in addition to making selections from directed reading lists

Three books in one!!

With history being one of our favorite subjects, I was very excited to be able to pick one of Heritage History's Classical History Curriculum CD's.  Our choices were:

• Young Readers - includes easy-to-read, introductory selections from many historical periods and provides a broad introduction to Western Culture suitable for grammar school age students. Specially featured are short stories from American, European, Ancient, and Biblical history.
• Ancient Greece - covers Greek history from the earliest days of myth and legend, through the Golden age of Athens, to the Greco-Roman Era. Of special interest to older students is a selection of simplified classics based on the works of renowned poets, historians and playwrights.
• Ancient Rome - includes romantic stories for students of all abilities, from legends of early Roman heroes that fascinate youngsters to stories of political turmoil in the imperial era that provide food for thought to older students. Stories from Gothic, Carthaginian, and Byzantine history are also included.
• British Middle Ages - features books that cover the 5th through 17th centuries in Europe and the British Isles. Topics include barbarian invasions, Christian conversion, feudalism, medieval war-craft, church-state conflicts, and the Reformation, all covered with a special focus on British history.
• British Empire - focuses on 18th and 19th century world history, with a special emphasis on colonial development. Stories that highlight scientific discovery, exploration, invention and industry are featured, along with those that cover regional histories of Ireland, Canada, British Africa, India, and East Asia.

I felt that Young Readers was the best choice for our crew, it was well rounded and fit the age of our children pretty well (3,5,8 and 11).  Along with a Teacher's Guide, there were 86 stories included.  The stories included Joan of Arc, American History Stories, Vikings Tales, Napoleon, Nursery Book of Bible Stories and Aesop's Fables. 

I liked that the Young Readers Curriculum had a such a wide variety of stories that we could choose from no matter what time period we were currently focusing on.  The stories included are exciting, interesting and very informative! 

I believe that the variety of this particular CD makes it a very useful resource that we can use over and over through the years.

I found the Teacher's Guide that was included on the CD to be very helpful.

The Curriculum CD's allow the user to view the stories as a PDF file, which is what I did right on my computer, as well as EPUB and MOBI files for e-readers.

Heritage History Curriculum can be used as a stand alone history curriculum or as an additional resource to whatever you are currently using.  They even have a section on their website that explains how you can use it along with another curriulum like Tapestry of Grace or Ambleside Online.  

If you are interested in purchasing any of the Heritage History Curriculum CD's now would be a great time to do so!  They are currently having a Buy 2 Get 1 FREE Spring Sale!  Each of the Curriculum CD's are $24.99.

Check out what other members of the TOS Crew are saying about Heritage History!


Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

TOS Crew: WriteShop

We were blessed with the opportunity to do a review for the WriteShop curriculum for the TOS Crew.  The WriteShop is an incremental writing program that was written by Kim Kautzer and Debbie Oldar.  This curriculum teaches students how to write through a series of engaging lessons.

Students learn the four most common kinds of writing—descriptive, informative, narrative, and persuasive, with the WriteShop Curriculum.  By following the four basic building blocks of writing - brainstorming, writing, editing and revising, students learn how to write while build the confidence they need.

While not a grammar program, the WriteShop does however, encourage growth and awareness in vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
WriteShop offers several levels of curriculum choices:

• WriteShop Primary A - for K, 1st or reluctant 2nd graders
• WriteShop Primary B - for 1st, 2nd or reluctant 3rd graders
• WriteShop Primary C -for 2nd, 3rd or reluctant 4th graders
• WriteShop Junior - for 3rd, 4th, or reluctant 5th graders
• WriteShop I - 6th-10th
• WriteShop II - 8th-12th 

I thought this would be a good fit for Computer Girl.  We choose Primary Level C since it is for grades 2nd-4th, and Computer Girl is in 3rd grade.   The Write Shop website has a page that helps with curriculum placement, I found this to be very helpful!

We received the WriteShop Primary Book C (Teacher's Guide) as well as the Activity set.  Both of these are available in ebook form but we received the print editions. 

Computer Girl has enjoyed working through the WriteShop book very much.  She enjoys the lessons as well as the writing assignments.  We had not really focused on writing for Computer Girl before now and so far, I have seen an improvement from when we first began and a greater desire to write.  The has now claimed serveral new notebooks and is writing stories for fun!  Yippee!

One thing I'd like to mention is this not a hum-drum boring program.  The authors of this program knew what they were doing when they created it, they have added in an extra element of fun amongst the writing lessons.  There is joy in my child's face when the yellow Primary C book comes out. 

Would I recommend this program?  ABSOLUTELY!! 

Will we continue to use this program?  Yes indeedy!  I think I would even like for my older daughter to do one of the older levels next year. 

Not to sound all commercially or anything, but if you are looking for a new writing curriculum for next year, look no further!  Folks, I think we have a winner!

The WriteShop Curriculum ranges in price.  The Primary Book C, printed edition, that we received is
$32.95 and the Activity Sheets are $4.95.

Currently, the WriteShop is offering a 15% discount off of any WriteShop Primary and Junior products in the WriteShop store (including e-books) for TOS Crew readers.  Use the coupon code CREW15 at checkout. Offer valid through June 15, 2012.

Please see what other TOS Crew members are saying about the WriteShop Curriculum!

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received the WriteShop Primary C Book and Activity Set, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

TOS Crew: CapJaxMathFax

I love for the kids to have different ways to practice their math facts, and computer games are one of their favorite ways to do that.  So, when we were offered the opportunity to review the CapJaxMathFax game we were all over it! 

CapJaxMathFax is a learning game that allows children to learn their math facts from the beginning all the way to mastery!

Here's what I liked about the program:

• This program is suitable for children as young as kindergarten all the way up to adults. 
• CapJax allows the student to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or any combination of them at once.
• The students progress is recorded and their skill level is automatically set accordingly.
• The children like the positive feedback after getting a correct answer.
• They also like that they can earn merit badges!
• Progress and scores are kept for each child so I know where they are and what they need to work on.
• They like being timed so that they can beat their last score.
• I like that this is a one time purchase. 
• I like that it is affordable.  It's only $29.95 to download the CapJaxMathFax.  This purchase covers up to 10 users.
• It is a math drill that all the kids can use. 

I do think that this is a good program to learn and practice math facts, and I would recommend it.  It's affordable, it keeps track of the students progress and it gets the job done! 

I would say that it is best suited for children that like are motivated by beating the time, high scores, and word of praise.  If you are looking for something with a lot of cutesy characters and fluff this might not be the best choice. 

You can purchase the CapJaxMathFax game as a Computer Download for $29.95 or on a CD with a Download Licenece for $35.90 plus shipping.

Check out what others on the TOS Crew think about CapJaxMathFax!

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine