Imagination Station Blog Tour

I am participating in a book tour for the new Imagination Station series of books.  We have been reading these books aloud for the past several weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed them.   I want to tell you all about them today.  


If your child has enjoyed The Magic Treehouse Series, they will most certainly like Imagination Station, published by Focus on The Family/Tyndale House.  If you're a fan of Adventures in Odyssey, you will love this extension of the popular audio series. 


The books are the adventures of cousins Beth and Patrick, who (while visiting Whit's End) find the Imagination Station.  Each story is based on what Beth and Patrick would do because of their faith in God.  The books teach about history THROUGH A LENS OF FAITH.   


Currently there are 6 books available, with more coming soon.    

For review purposes, we received the complete set of books - what a treat!   It included:

#1:  Voyage With the Vikings
#2:  Attack at the Arena
#3:  Peril in the Palace
#4:  Revenge of the Red Knight
#5:  Showdown with the Shepherd
#6:  Problems in Plymouth

In our history studies this year we have been learning about the Ancients and have just started Medieval times... The first two books (Voyage with the Vikings and Attack at the Arena) were of particular interest to us.  I read them aloud to my six year old.   They are recommended for ages 7 and up, but I think children as young as 4 or 5 can listen to them.  Composed of 15 short chapters, the books can be read in little chunks here and there, although my son was begging me to read several chapters at a time!  My son is able to read them by himself, but I wanted to hear them, too!   


My daughter, 10, also enjoys the books and has been reading them on her own... these are books that can be passed down to several children, or enjoyed with multiple ages at the same time.  I love those kinds of resources!  


Each book follows the same sequence of events -- Beth and Patrick start out in Whit's End in the Imagination Station and are given a different challenge.  The Imagination Station takes them to the particular period in history and Beth and Patrick must face adventures and challenges to solve the mystery.   The historical information presented is accurate and memorable.   These books are a wonderful supplement to our history curriculum!  


At the end of each book there are a few little written puzzles to complete to come up with a secret word.  Once your child has this word, they can then go to the Imagination Station website and enter this word to unlock a free Adventures in Odyssey episode.  My son loved this!   You can also see previews of each book and much more! 

If you'd like a chance to win a set of the books, you can visit my friend Kathy's blog, where she is hosting a giveaway.   

Disclaimer: I received the above named products from Tyndale House Publishing  in return for my honest review. I have not been compensated in any other form.  

Keyboard Town Pals Review

Keyboard Town Pals is an interactive keyboarding program that will "teach your child to type in one hour".   We were given the web based version to review as our latest TOS Crew review.

About the program:

According to the makers of Keyboard Town Pals:    

• We de-activated the delete and backspace function in the program since we do not dwell on mistakes.
• The program may be used in two- ½ hour lessons or smaller time-segments such as eight mini 6-7 minute lessons and is especially helpful to children with learning differences.
• Colors can sometimes have a soothing effect for students with certain disabilities. Therefore, Keyboard Town PALS offers a choice of fonts and background screen colors.
• Keyboard Town PALS is the "missing link" between the child's intellectual capabilities and the technological world around him or her. Understanding the keyboard liberates creative expression, offering every child a greater possibility of success in school and life.

Keyboard Town Pals uses a series of humorous characters to teach keyboarding.   These characters talk the children through each lesson It divides the keyboard into three distinct areas:  Uptown, Home Key Street, and Downtown (or the top, middle and bottom rows) You can view an online demo here. 

The web version is available for $39.95, and there are other combinations you can purchase - the CD ROM, or CD ROM and additional products.  It is available in English, Spanish and French. Check it all out on their website.  

Our impressions:

My six year old son tried the program.  He easily completed it an hour as expected.  He enjoyed the characters (he said his favorite character was Larry!).   Since he has already been using some keyboarding programs, this teaching approach was different for him (dividing the keyboard into an upper, middle and lower row rather than teaching a specific finger and then the keys that finger is responsible for).  I did like the fact that he always had proper finger placement and was engaged throughout the whole program.   He was able to sit for an entire hour with it (you can break it into smaller chunks, but he just wanted to keep going).

He laughed throughout the instruction (the puppets and little skits are pretty cute), but did tell me afterwards he felt it was a little "baby-ish".  It was frustrating to him that he could not use the delete and backspace buttons (which the makers of the program advertise as one of their best points).   He didn't like NOT being able to correct his mistakes.    

For the price of $39.95, I thought this was VERY steep.   I expected many follow up exercises for this amount of money, but that was not offered.  

 If you think this might be something your child could benefit from, though,I definitely recommend checking out their website. They do say it is good for children with special needs, so if that applies to you, you might want to do further investigating.    You can also read some other TOS Crew reviews here.

Disclaimer: I received the above named product from TOS Crew in return for my honest review. I have not been compensated in any other form. 

A Fun Online Experience For Girls - Always IceCream

"It's my favorite thing to do on the computer... even better than my Gmail!"

"It's like Webkinz World, just lots more interesting, and I'm learning more."

"May I play Always IceCream?  I need to earn my gold medal in multiplication!"

These are quotes from my 10 year old daughter about our latest review for The Old Schoolhouse...Always IceCream. I think this one review where I can say there were no negatives!  

About Always IceCream:  

Always IceCream is a learning website exclusively for girls between the ages of 7 and 12.  My daughter has enjoyed the many activities on the site, which include learning games, quizzes, videos, and much more.   Perhaps her favorite thing has been making friends with other Always IceCream users.  (Don't worry -- the privacy is top-notch...all of the communication is moderated and as a parent I have full access to her account through my parent account.)

In the past I have always felt the need to be standing over my daughter's shoulder while she is online... after a couple of times with Always IceCream I could see this was a quality, safe experience for her.  Now, I can send her to the computer for her Always IceCream time and know everything will be fine.  I can also get progress reports by logging into my parent account and see EXACTLY what she has been doing on the site.  

So, what are the specifics?  

Always IceCream is built on three main things:

Motivation

Learning

Praise & Recognition

From the website:

"Always Icecream serves "virtual ice cream," or $coops, to girls in exchange for practicing basic math, advanced math, geography, language arts, science, typing, and more. Girls use $coops to play fun games, decorate their homes on MiniWorld, and feed their virtual pets on Pet World." 

My daughter has memorized the location of all 50 states, largely due to the quizzes on the site. She is learning!  And, she is motivated to learn more!  

She has also practiced her typing skills. She loves moving up several levels at a time and receives praise and recognition  with scoops and medals.  

One of my favorite features as a parent has been my ability to award my daughter scoops - I can award them for specific chores she does, or I can award them just because she's a "great daughter".  She was thrilled to get 100 scoops from me because I just thought she was great! 

At dinner one night recently my daughter was sharing some Classical music trivia with us.  When I asked where this came from she replied:  "Always IceCream.  It was fun, mom!"  

I also loved coming to the computer and seeing my daughter playing a Bible game on Always IceCream!  

  Always IceCream has 4 different membership options:

• $4.99/month - with the first month being $.99
• $9.98 for two months
• $29.99 for an annual membership
• $99.99 for a lifetime membership

Always IceCream gets a huge two thumbs up from my daughter and I.   If you have any further questions, you can visit their website, or you can read some my crew mates' reviews.   You can also connect with Always IceCream on Facebook.  

This might make a great Christmas gift for your 7-12 year old daughter!   Give some of the free games a try and see for yourself!  

Disclaimer: I received the above named product from TOS Crew in return for my honest review. I have not been compensated in any other form.