The Old Schoolhouse Crew Year End Awards

The last two academic years I have had the privilege of being a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. This group has the opportunity to use and review many exciting products. Some of these are new and some are old favorites, some are winners for a family, others are not loved quite as much. 

One of the unique activities of the crew is the opportunity to vote for our favorite products at the end of a year. This is fun, but it can also be a challenge to decide which category best represents a product. The black text and listing of products is information provided to me from the Crew and represents the votes of many people on the Crew. Some of the products listed I have had the opportunity to review; others I have not. Reviews for the products I have reviewed are here on my blog.

The asterisk denotes products I reviewed and is linked (hopefully) to my review here on my blog. The highlighted product names should take you to the company website.

As the 2011-2012 Crew year comes to a close, we are once again presenting awards to our vendors. The awards are known as the TOS Homeschool Crew Blue Ribbon Awards.

The following vendors are the recipients of the award this year. Click on their name to check out the Crew reviews!

*Favorite Reading Instruction Product: Reading Eggs 

*Favorite Writing Product: Write Shop 

*Favorite Language Arts Product: Progeny Press 

Favorite Social Studies Product: TruthQuest History 

*Favorite Science Product: Amazing Science 

*Favorite Math Product: Math Mammoth 

Favorite Online Math Product: Math Rider 

*Favorite Foreign Language Product: Visual Latin 

*Favorite Fine Arts Product: Artistic Pursuits 

Favorite Christian Education Product: Apologia: Who Am I? 

Favorite Preschool Product: Before Five in a Row 

Favorite Elementary Product: All About Reading  

*Favorite Middle School Product: Write with WORLD 

Favorite High School Product: Excellence in Literature 

Favorite College or College-Prep Product: Excellence in Literature 

*Best Online Resource: Reading Eggs 

*Best e-Product: Heritage History  

Best Homeschool Resource: Apologia: Educating the Wholehearted Child 

Best Book, Novel, or Magazine: Apologia: How to Have a HEART for Your Kids 

Best Children's Book: Amazing Animals by Design 

*Best Game or Toy: Northstar Games: Wits and Wagers and Say Anything 

*Best Hands-On Resource: Pitsco Education

*Best Resource I Didn't Know I Needed: eMeals 

*Best Customer Service: K5 Learning  

*Most Adaptable Resource: Creek Edge Press 

*Most Family-Oriented Resource: Northstar Games: Wits and Wagers and Say Anything 

*Kids' Choice (favorite of CHILDREN ages 0-12): Reading Eggs 

*Teens' Choice (favorite per the TEENAGERS): Pitsco Education 

*All Around Crew Favorite: Visual Latin  

 Each winning vendor has received this wonderful award to display with pride:

Many other Crew Members are blogging about these awards as well. Visit the Crew Blog to find a listing of links to other blog posts about these awards.

The two years I have been a member of the TOS Crew have been a learning experience for me. I have learned more about the myriad of homeschool products available, more about my children's learning abilities and needs, and meet many other homeschool parents  through their blogs and crew connections. However, due to changes for my family, I will not be continuing to review with the TOS Homeschool Crew. I will miss the opportunity I was blessed to have.

I plan to continue adding to my blog, but just not with as many product reviews.

Who Lives in the Sea? DVD and Educator guide TOS Review

 Who Lives in the Sea? DVD

 Who Lives in the Sea? blends breathtaking underwater pictures, enjoyable music,  and facts about the animals which make the ocean their home. The marine life you'll meet and learn about in this DVD includes
blue footed booby, marine turtles, iguanas, dolphins, eight armed animals, coral reefs, nudibranches, whale sharks, and sea lions. There is also a bonus feature, Underwater Alphabet, which highlights additional water life.A personality trait or quality is associated with each marine animal and mentioned in the movie.
The Dive into your Imagination series was created by Annie Crawly, aka Ocean Annie to help children learn about and explore the wonderful world found in the ocean.  Annie grew up far from the ocean, but as an adult had the opportunity to travel to and explore the worlds' oceans, exploring them and photographing ocean life. As a result of her experience she has become passionate about teaching children about oceans. It is her hope that children will grow to love the ocean and want to help protect it, because " we protect what we love".

While the DVD's are engaging and full of information, the Educators guides created to go with them are packed full of exciting activities and experiences, with chapters that correspond to those on the DVD. Inside the guides you'll find activities in the language arts, math, science, social studies, and arts subjects. There are 6-10 pages of printable activities and several pages of teacher notes and ideas for hands on or active activities as well. There are also activities which discuss the personality or character trait in each unit. Tying in the series title, Dive into your Imagination, viewers are encouraged to use their imagination to pretend they are marine life or live under the sea. Each chapter may vary by a couple pages, but they are close to the same length. The guides are available in two levels: PreK/K and 1st -3rd grades.

In addition to the website, Dive into your Imagination, Annie also has several YouTube channels.
www.Youtube.com/AnnieCrawley

www.Youtube.com/OceanAnnieTV

Who Lives in the Sea? is one of three DVD's in the Dive into Your Imagination series. The other two volumes are What Makes a Fish a Fish? and Dive into Diversity. Each of these DVD's is $19.95. Available at anniecrawley.com 

Print copies of the Educator Guide are available for $299.99. Mention you are a homeschooler in the notes on your order and Annie will give you a free pdf copy of the guide which goes with the DVD you purchase..

As a special, during May and June, Annie is offering free shipping to my blog readers for orders placed at her store.


My Thoughts

We enjoyed watching the DVD multiple times. The photography is simply stunning and the music is enjoyable.

Both my 8 and 11 year old participated in the activities found in the Educator guide. However, I knew some of them (mainly math) were quite simple for my older student, so I did not have her do them. We also did not do most of the role play or movement activities as my 8 year old son is not excited about that type of activity and my daughter is beyond them. To supplement the activities for my 11 year I had her look up definitions for the vocabulary words rather than using the included definitions list. I also required her to read additional resources and write more for the unit summaries of what she learned.

While we did not use every activity in the guide I think they are very well written and easily adaptable to the homeschool setting. (They are written for a classroom teacher). There is so much in them that the DVD and guide could easily be a unit study lasting several days for young scholars. The PreK/K guide contains many group activities and coloring pages, while the the guide for older students does have individual written activities in addition.

One thing I noted was a lot of information encouraging children to take care of the environment and how that impacts the ocean. While that kind of encouragement is important, I feel there was a lot in the guides. Some of my children tuned out as we do not live near the ocean and they didn't feel it was relevant to them. However, that does not keep me from using all the other wonderful resources in the DVD and guide.

Other members of the TOS Crew reviewed the other DVD's in the series as well this one. See what they had to say at the Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: I received a gratis copy of the mentioned DVD and download copies of the educator guide in order to write this review. I have not been compensated in any other manner and all opinions expressed here are solely my own.Information is accurate at time of posting.

Beef and Veggie Ramen

I stumbled across this recipe several years ago and decided to try it for my family. I was pleasantly surprised how much they enjoyed it. It really isn't hard, but there is some prep work to it. I do have to warn you that I really don't measure much of anything. I just kind of eyeball things as I put them in so that there is a good balance.

Beef and Veggie Ramen

3/4 - 1 lb. Ground beef
1 medium onion chopped into desired size pieces
Broccoli florets,  cut  (Instead of measuring, I usually use about a cereal bowl full)
3 medium Carrots, shredded
4 Cups water
3 packages ramen noodles
Seasoning packets from Beef flavored ramen or 2 bullion cubes
1 tsp. Dried red pepper flakes


Shredded carrots.
Cut broccoli into managable pieces. I usually cut most of the stem off each piece, so my bits are small. but cut according to your families preference.


Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet. Drain.

Add water and seasoning packets or bullion.  After water is hot add broccoli, ramen noodles, and red peppers.
Bring to a boil so both cook through.

Just before all water has cooked off, add carrots. They don't take long to cook since they are small.

After adding carrots continue to mix so it doesn't stick to the pan. Serve immediately.


Part of what I like about this recipe is its versatility. You can leave the onion out, I often forget to cut one up. I have also used cauliflower instead of broccoli.  When I used cauliflower I didn't add it with the noodles as I didn't want it to get mushy. I waited until they were fairly soft before adding the cauliflower.

I also plan to try it with a bag of frozen mixed veggies, but don't know how that will work yet.