I have a homeschool and family blog at http://www.homeschoolingandlovingit-angela.blogspot.com I am giving away a planner and 10 magazine subscriptions there.  Come over and check it out!

We are currently reading the Blue Unbrella by Mike Mason. We received it recently to review through Mamabuzz. The book is an adventure/mystery that leaves you in suspense at every turn. We are really enjoying the book, my son who is almost 11 and can’t wait until the next night when we read. I will tell you that there is some darkness in the book-some of the characters are dark people and there are some scenes that would be graphic for younger children who it may scare so if this bothers you or your children you may want to skip this one but if your children are older and you love a good adventure story this is a good one. This story also has many spiritual lessons (really GREAT ones) and leaves your heart feeling good. We are not totally done with it yet but I can’t wait to get to the end to see what will happen. You will get into this book just as much as your child if not more so.

Enjoy a free
excerpt of this book at Mike Mason’s website.


The Blue Umbrella, by Mike Mason from David C. Cook on Vimeo

This book was given as a complimentary copy to Mama Buzz Reviewers by David C. Cook and Mike Mason, for blog tour and promotion purposes

I was so excited to find out I would be receiving Draw and Write Through History to review. The book Creation through Jonah was on my homeschooling wish list this year but I ran out of money and couldn’t buy it. I just LOVE how God blesses me that way! We are doing Creation to the Greeks with My Fathers World so this is the perfect art program to go with that. They also have 3 other art books that cover everything from the Vikings and Middle Ages to American history (Pilgrims and such)Their website is beautiful and will tell you about each book in detail. We are studying pyramids right now and there is a great lesson on that so I thought I would share some pictures of us using it for you. The book takes you step by step so even if you don’t feel like your an artist you can draw these pictures. I have never felt confident in my drawings and I LOVE doing this with the kids, for the first time I feel like I can draw something. If you love Charlotte Mason type of education where you keep notebooks on your studies, you will love to add this artwork to your history/Bible and even geography notebooks.

Now maybe I’m biased but that is one GREAT pyramid, don’t you think?

This is what their website says:

Take an exciting journey through time as you draw and write your way through history!

text-book method, your students will retain more of what they have learned by drawing and writing about each time period.

The book is 12.99. Well worth it! Thanks so much to Mamabuzz and Draw Write Through History for this opportunity!

Sleepy Sun by Mari Hanson. The book is 14.99 on amazon.

We were so excited when we received the book Sleepy Sun in the mail to review. What a delightful bedtime story with beautiful illustrations. My 2nd grader and K student LOVED the story. It tells the story about the sun and all its adventures doing the day and how it is getting sleepy now that the day is ending. They did such wonderful job with the pictures, they are warm and inviting and capture the kids attention. It was a great suprise to see the author had signed it, the kids LOVED that! If you are looking for a great bedtime story to add to your list, you have to add this one.

Thanks to Mamabuzz and Mari Hanson for providing this book to review.

Here is a review from the Old Schoolhouse Magazine for Sleepy Sun

The author

These educational activity kits help children practice and learn the sight words, necessary for reading and writing. Children color a graphically designed sight word and “find” the hidden word.

If you have a child in your house that LOVES to color and is learning to read you have to try Word Wall Words. This is such a wonderful concept! Your child colors a common site word and colors the background. It makes the word pop out, after you color the word there is a list of questions to do with your child such as “use this word in a sentence” , you will be teaching vocab., spelling, and reading in one. The kit comes with an idea sheet that gives you ideas how to make a book out of the words, a keychain, and much more. This would be a GREAT idea for the workboxes if you do them. I have been using them in my workboxes. This product is a 2008 iParenting Media Best Product of the Year Award winner and Mom’s Choice Award winner. We are really enjoying this product. I love it when you can use an educational activity that your kids love to do. The only con I could think of is when you have a child that hates to color, this is probably not for them but if you like to color (like I do), this would be a great activity for you to do with your child to encourage them, share a page and talk about it together. I have one learning to read that LOVES to color and one that doesn’t so me coloring with her really helps.

A kit is 19.95 and you get 100 high frequency words. They have a 1st and 2nd grade kit.

You can find some images here and here.

Thanks to MRMClassroom and Mamabuzz for providing this product for review and for this opportunity!

I received a Studypod recently to review. They come in three colors: black, pink, and blue. I picked the blue one, I thought it would be great for the boys and girl in my family. This is such a wonderful tool for studying and reading. It is sturdy(will hold up books of all sizes), it folds up wonderful for storage (it can actually sit on a bookshelf like a book when it is folded closed), it has a pocket for storage (pens, pencils, etc), and is wonderful to work with for homeschooling or your personal use. I don’t know how many times I have had to use another book or something else heavy to hold a book open for me or my children and now I don’t have to. I just unfold the studypod and put the book in with the clips and voila it holds the book open. This would also be great for the papers or work that has to be typed, you just have the book open and you can type what you need (like the picture below), I’m using mine a LOT in the kitchen, how great it is to put your recipe in the studypod and cook!   I’m LOVING mine., make sure you check out their website here.

 Thanks to Studypod for this opportunity.

I was recently asked to review Meet Me At The Corner, it is a website that has virtual field trips. This site is great because you and your child can sit at the computer and watch a virtual field trip together. It is a great way to enhance your learning, or just go to different places without leaving your home for fun! A new video goes up every two weeks and you can watch everything from a real life cowboy working on a ranch to building an airplane. Every time you watch a video you will have links and learning tools for your child to participate that has the same theme as the field trip.

The website is wonderful! It is very easy to navigate and there are contests, a free newsletter you can subscribe to with email and a learning corner that has questions for your children after seeing the field trip. The videos are high quality and the children that ask the questions to the presenters of the field trip do a FABULOUS job! I think children of all ages will enjoy this site.

This is what the founder says:

This series of virtual field trips is being distributed over the Internet as video pod casts on our web site www.meetmeatthecorner.org Directed at America’s school children, each show explores the world and its wonders from a child’s point of view. During each video pod cast a child host serves as tour guide, leading the viewer to historic and cultural sites. Each show includes a suggested reading list and a Learning Corner of follow-up activities for school children ages eight to twelve.

Our videos are posted on our website, Currki (http://www.curriki.org) and TeacherTu be (http://www.teachertube.com) Next Vista Learning( http://www.nextvista.org) and Watch Know (http://watchknow.org/)