Showing posts with label TOS Crew Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TOS Crew Review. Show all posts

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Travel Kits...A TOS Crew Review

***Disclaimer: I received the following product as a member of TOS Crew in exchange for my honest review.***

What do you think of when you hear the word "summer"? I think of trips to the beach, plane rides to Iowa, and car trips to Washington. This is the time of year when many people pack up and head out.

Our neighbor is doing just that. They are taking off for a week and heading south to Los Angeles. I had a light-bulb moment when she mentioned to me being a bit nervous about keeping her 3 year old occupied on the 6 hour trip. "I'll put together a Travel Kit for Maya!"

"What is a Travel Kit", you ask? Well, a Travel Kit is a simple way to bless others! It's a group of items, given to someone in a creative way, that will enhance their trip in a thoughtful way. Curious? Then I encourage you to check out this E-Book, Travel Kits: A Simple Way To Bless Others, published by The Old Schoolhouse.

This E-Book is FULL of great ideas for items to include in the kit:
*Gifts for Boys such as toy cars, yo-yo's, cowboy hats, etc.
*Gifts for Girls such as jewelry, stationery, stickers, etc.
*Gifts for Moms such as favorite candy, travel pillow, materials for knitting, etc.
*Gifts for Dad such as gift card to Starbucks, cd, maps, etc.

This E-Book is FULL of creative way to package the items:
*Use a plastic bucket if the family is heading to the beach.
*Use a decorated gift bag.
*Use a box covered with wrapping paper.

This E-Book is FULL of fun ways to distribute the items, ideas for theme kits, helpful websites, and pages with tips from other travelers. Oh, and if you are a visual person, you'll like this E-Book. There are clear, colored, pictures of example kits, gifts, packaging on just about every page. I really appreciated that!

The author gave several examples of places to find the items to place inside your travel kit. You don't have to spend a small fortune either. I found most of the items for Maya's Travel Kit in the $1 section at Target and Micheal's, around the house, and even at a thrift store.


The boys and I decided to wrap some of the gifts to make it more fun for her. After all, who doesn't like opening presents?!?


Maya was very excited to receive her Travel Kit. It felt good to be a blessing to her and to her parents! I am thankful for the wonderful ideas this E-book provided. If you'd like to bless others through giving Travel Kits, I encourage you to download the 93 page Travel Kit E-book for $12.45 found at The Old Schoolhouse Store.

Click here to read what others are saying!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Download N Go Product Review

I have had my eye on Amanda Bennett's new unit study series, Download N Go, for a few months now and was thinking of purchasing the Davy Crockett unit for our American History study next year. I figured at $7.95 a unit, I wouldn't be out much if I wasn't satisfied. Lucky for me, I recently received a copy of her Expedition Australia unit to review for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. After working through Expedition Australia, I will be purchasing the Davy Crockett unit, as well as Twisting Tornadoes.

One of the first aspects of the Download N Go units that impressed me was the variety of activities we completed. Lapbooking and notebooking pages are incorporated into the unit study.
We completed pages where we...
***researched animals found in Australia such as the wombat (Science)
***compared the weather where we live to the weather of a particular Australian city (Science)
***learned Australian vocabulary (Vocabulary...in case you didn't make the connection...;o)

***measured the distance between where we live to a particular Australian city (Math)

***drew a picture of the Great Barrier Reef (Art)

***researched geographic features such as the Great Victoria Desert (Geography and Science)


The colored graphics of the lapbook/notebook pages were welcomed by my visual learner, but if you choose to print in B&W, I don't feel it would lessen the effect of the image.

I found the Download N Go to be "busy homeschool mom" friendly. There is no checking the mailbox 15 times a day to see if the item you desperately need has finally arrived. Downloading is a breeze and instant. The embedded hyperlinks not only connect you to videos, online games, worksheets, ect on the web, but to the specific pages within the unit you need to print off for any given activity. The lapbooking/notebooking pages are clearly marked to let you know which activity/day they are used for. She also includes a book list, as well as a resource list if you'd like to take your study further.

You can use these one week units for your K-4th grader as your main curriculum, as a supplement, or to have on hand for one of those times when "life gets in the way".
Below are a few of the Download N Go units that are available when I wrote this review. New ones are added weekly. You can click on this link to be taken to the site where you can click on any of the units to see samples.
***Winter Wonders
***George Washington
***Expedition China
***Whale Tales
***Simply Soccer
***Pizza Party
***Autumn Treasures

Here is how the pricing works...

One study...$7.95

One Month (4 Units)...$30.00 plus Birthday Bonanza FREE! You save $1.80!

One Semester (19 Units)...$114.00 plus Birthday Bonanza AND Summer Sensations FREE! You save $37.50!

Full Year (38 Units)...$190.00 plus Birthday Bonanza, Summer Sensations, E Book: Unit Studies 101, E Book: Unit Study Journal FREE! You save $112.10!

The more you buy, the more you save!

I really appreciated the ease of use and the quality of the activities. I am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

To purchase or for more information, visit Amanda Bennett's Download N Go website at
http://downloadngo.com/index.php. You can also check out her other unit studies at http://www.unitstudy.com/.

"Download N Go was designed for the specific purpose of combining the very best features of unit studies and lapbooking into one study on one topic that was fun and interactive. The Download N Go series brings all of these concepts together in smooth fashion, maximizing the learning experience while minimizing the complications of preparation. Download N Go studies are fun, engaging, interactive, and simple to use--capturing the best of all of these."~Amanda Bennett