Nature Friend Magazine

I recently received two copies of Nature Friend magazine to review. I was amazed and awestruck and the quality of this magazine. The photography, paper quality and the articles were all top-notch and they included related activities. Then, something hit me all at once and I had to look at the magazine again. There were NO advertisements of any kind. The more I looked at and studied this magazine, the more I liked it.

All three of my kids (8-13) loved it. They would read the articles to each other and actually help one another with the activities. It is wonderful for a mom to see her kids getting along. Now, I'm not going to claim this happened the whole time they worked on the magazines but for the most part, they were so excited about some of it that they temporarily forgot to fight.

Nature Friend has started putting out a study guide recently with their magazine in order for families to get even more out of the articles. Some are activities like crosswords and word search, others are more like actual research. For the time we had the magazine coming to our home, we used it for science class at least twice a week. It seemed to work well with our multi-grade school situation. I haven't found a whole of things that do incorporate all my kids on some level, but then some days my creative side takes a nose dive. Don't laugh, you know you've been there.

Our science class using the magazine looked a little like this - the oldest child would read and article to the younger ones with mom explaining anything that wasn't understood, then the kids would talk about it some (their favorite parts, if they've ever seen the subject, etc) and then we would pick one of the many activities to do to reinforce some of the words and concepts. Some of those activities were very challenging!

This company offers more than magazines, I've seen a wide array of books and also noticed they sell a hardback edition of a year's worth of magazine that will last. I love this idea. If you follow this link then it will direct you to some sample issues to help you decide if this is right for you. There isn't enough room for me to put in all I would like to about this magazine. I say all these wonderful things to allow you to know that the price of such a wonderful resource is well justified. I haven't renewed my subscription but I definitely intend to as soon as spring comes. One year cost $36.00, that's just $3 and issue with no ads and chock full of educational nature information for your child. The study guide is $24.00 for the year, which is $2 an issue and more than well worth that. And for those of my readers who it matters to very much, this is creation based nature study that glorifies our Creator. To me, that's priceless. Think, pray and consider this.

Blessings,
DebG, HeadNut

Quarter Mile Math by Barnum Software

My kids absolutely love this program!! And to be honest, I play it a little myself. Of course, I felt a very silly because I couldn't figure out at first. I was trying to do place value and lost my race! That should have been simple, but I guess one must pay attention to the directions before they try to play a game.

Barnum has come up with an ingenious way of making learning fun for kids. This program takes concepts and encourages the child to answer quickly by running races against others in a tournament or the computer itself. My kids love to race the computer and I have noticed significant improvement in my children's ability to do math quickly and without paper. For my youngest, that is a minor miracle in itself. He has so much trouble trying to do math, but today I watched him add 5 numbers in his head that were 2-digit numbers. He was doing better than I was at figuring the answer. I look forward to him doing as well at multiplication and division. This program can take him there.

Quarter Mile math offers several options. Right now, I am using their Deluxe Bundle which is on a subscription basis. The subscription is only $2.95/month per family! That is directly in my budget range. As I have stated before with 5 people and a dog, and every penny counts. This covers K-9th (pre-algebra). A comparison of the prices and products can be seen here.

This program is also used by Sylvan Learning Centers. That's a huge endorsement right there. Sylvan has always been a trusted name in tutoring and improving skills. In using this program, I can definitely see why Sylvan has chosen to use this in their own programs.

Right now, Barnum is offering a discount of $5 off orders for readers of my blog. Just use the referral code 7M7E7. This offer expires September 30, 2009. I believe once you try this program, your kids and you will be hooked. It is a wonderful supplement to any math program you use currently and with it's budget-friendly prices, you can hardly go wrong. At least download the free demo and get it a spin!