We hope to raise our kids to be trilingual.  I speak French; my husband speaks Spanish.  It should have been simple to raise trilingual kids. Though both J-jo and Bear have tremendous ability to understand ninety percent of what we tell them in those languages, they are so reticent to speak them! So when I was asked to review Mango Homeschool Edition from Mango Languages, I was interested.  Would it make Bear more confident to speak in French?

Mango Languages provides access to over 60 different languages, at all levels of coursework, and is intended for ages 6 through adult. All lessons are online and you can learn more than one language at a time. You need to enable pop-up windows, and have the correct version of Adobe Flash Player for the program to work. 

I had Bear do the French course.  I took the Spanish one. They even have different courses for the different major dialects (French from France versus Quebec, and Spanish from Spain versus Latin America). There is a plethora of language choices.

Things I like:

• The placement test – they don’t make you go through a whole bunch of stuff you already know.  However, I didn’t find the placement test completely accurate.  It was easy to deduce the answer to many questions from my knowledge of French and Spanish since they were giving me choices of words. (See photo above.)
• Lots of repetition, which is important for learning a language.
• The cultural notes are interesting and help one learn more about the culture.
• It progresses nicely.  The lessons build on each other.

A wish: I am SO rusty on my Spanish grammar, but my vocabulary is pretty good.  I wish I could have the choice to focus JUST on the grammar portion without having to go through all the lessons.  It’s good in context if you are learning it for the first time, but when you just need a refresher, not so much, at least not for me.  Nevertheless, I am enjoying the review and learning interesting things about Isabel Allende, Juanes, and Laura Esquivel.

How we use it:
Bear sits on her own to go through the lessons and does a lesson per day.  This is a very independent program and it is self-explanatory.  I love that aspect of it.  I am not seeing much retention yet, in spite of us adding a notebook for her to write out the vocabulary and sentences she is learning.  I also think that the phrases she is learning are not relevant to her at this particular moment so perhaps this is a reason for the lack of retention.  For example, she is learning how to introduce herself and greet others, but it would be more relevant for her to be able to tell her grandmother what she did today when we Facetime.  Of course, most programs or curricula that teach a foreign language spend a large portion of the time teaching you phrases useful for traveling, not for conversing with your grandparents. {Edited: After a month of using Mango Languages, Bear began speaking to me in French.  Randomly, out-of-the blue, she stuck French words all over the place within a few sentences!  I mean, she still has far to go to be a fluent speaker, but yay!} 

I also noticed, being much farther ahead of her in my Spanish studies, that the courses do progress to a place that would provide her with more relevant vocabulary for having fulfilling conversations that go beyond asking for directions.  I am excited for her to get there.

Bear’s views on the matter are mixed.  Is fickleness a 6 year old phase?  She never complains when I assign her to do her French lesson, but when I ask her how she likes it, she tells me it is kind of boring and that it is not her favorite thing.  I can see why she might say that.  There are no bells and whistles; it’s quite a simple presentation, but I do like that about it.  Not everything should have to be bells and whistles.  It’s just that it feels like a program geared for an older crowd, even though a 6 year old can handle it just fine.  There is also lots of review, which is great for learning a language and having it stick.  Unfortunately, things that repeat and review a lot are often deemed boring by Bear.  She wants to move on as soon as she can, even when she needs review.

Here are some details I love:

• The class is done like flashcards.  Each flashcard teaches or reviews a snippet of info.
• The phrases and sentences are broken down into the parts.
• There is use of critical thinking when you are asked to create a sentence you have never seen based on the parts you have been studying.
• There is voice recognition and you can record yourself saying the word or phrase to compare your accent and pronunciation.
• The sentences and phrases taught are very practical ones to meet people, order food, find places in a city, etc, and later to have conversations about things like which schools to choose for your child and if you have read anything by interesting authors.
• You learn information about the culture of the people/country where the language is spoken throughout the lessons.
• I can check on Bear’s progress (that is, see where she is in her lessons) without actually signing into her account. I can also switch back and forth between as many languages as I want to learn.

Overall, I am pleased with Mango Homeschool Edition. The true test for me though, is how much French Bear will be spouting after 6 months of the program.  Time will tell.  

Note that we reviewed the homeschool edition, which is still under development.  What was available to us on the website was:

Over 60 different languages
Progress Assessments
Built-in journals, discussions and wikis
Collaborative learning spaces
eNote messaging
/chat rooms
Access to embedded/downloadable content
Support from other community members
Calendars to schedule meetings or study groups

For my 6 year old, I only used the lessons and the progress assessments.  I am not ready for her to be using chat rooms and collaborative learning spaces so we did not utilize that aspect of it.  I encourage you to read other Crew reviews if you are interested in seeing how these were used.

Over the next several months, Mango Languages will be introducing other exciting features like:

Enhanced Tracking and Progress Monitoring – including seat time (for students and parents)
Goals and Personal Lesson Plans (both stand-alone and tied into Mango courses)
Resume and Portfolio Builder

The pricing is as follows:

1 subscription is $18/month or $125/year total
2 subscriptions is $28/month or $175 /year total
3 subscriptions is $38/month or $225/year total
4 subscriptions is $48/month or $275/year total
5 subscriptions is $58/month or $325/year total

Anything over 6 subscriptions is a special group rate that will depend on the number in the group.

If you are interested in connecting with Mango Languages, here are their social media links:

Twitter
Pinterest
Facebook

Egglo Entertainment has taken a tradition that is normally secular and detracts from the meaning of Easter and redeemed it in a such an enjoyable way with their products, which focus on Jesus being the light of the world.  

We received Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs ($11.99, on sale for $9.99), Egglo Treasures scripture scrolls, the book The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure ($12.99, on sale for $9.99), The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure (book audio download) ($2.99) and The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Program Guide ($14.95). The age range for these is about ages 4 to 13, but could work for any age.

Bear was especially excited to see these eggs!

We started with the book.  It’s a 40 page story of a sister and brother and their cousin who go up to the attic to pass the time (rather impatiently) until the church’s Easter egg hunt.  In the attic they find a glowing egg that gives them a riddle to solve and a Bible verse to read.  The kids, who are a bit selfish and bossy, end up traveling to the places in the riddles and start applying the Bible verses to their situations.  They end up back home a bit changed and the adults in the book are pleased, yet surprised by these changes. From Bear:  “I like the details in the illustrations.  I like the riddles and Bible verses.  It was fun to try to guess where the kids were going next.”
From J-jo: ” I liked when the kids were bossy but they changed to be nice.”

They both agreed it was a book they wanted to read again. I liked the illustrations, but felt the story was long and drawn out.  It was a lot of text to read aloud!  I should have gone straight for the audio version we received.  It takes 30 minutes to listen to, but the narrator is much more animated than I could be.  Nevertheless, my opinion about the lengthiness doesn’t matter much, since the kids absolutely loved it!  I did appreciate the message of the book and as Bear said, it was fun to try to solve the riddles.  I liked that Bear and J-jo could see other kids, even though fictional, choosing to change their behavior. After reading the book, Bear and J-jo couldn’t wait to do their own hunt.  The eggs come in a box of twelve.  You have to put them together. I saved an egg carton for storage so I can keep them stored whole.  The eggs are pastel colors and some have crosses on them while others are plain. It’s recommended to charge the eggs in the sunlight (it still takes about 45 minutes), but I charged our eggs under a lamp (and really, not for long enough) so they didn’t glow very brightly, or for very long.  I hid them all over the playroom for the kids after we read The Egg-cellent Egg Adventure because I didn’t find the scavenger hunt on the Egglo website until  later, but it has clues in the form of Bible verses that lead you to places in the house.  It was way better as scripture scavenger hunt and we used a flashlight to read the clues! Bear and J-jo rushed to get them all.  It was really cold here during our review period, so there was no way I was going to hide the eggs outside, but I think the hunt would have been much more fun outside at night. Nevertheless, the kids had me hide the eggs multiple times this same evening. The first time we did the hunt in the playroom, we hid the scripture scrolls in the eggs. The scriptures are ones that focus on Jesus being the light in our lives. After they had found all the eggs, we turned on the lights, sat together and read them to each other and discussed them. The scrolls are a bit fragile at the point where the paper inserts into the plastic ends.  One of ours has come apart and though I can insert the paper back into the plastic end, I worry about how long they will last.  The kids carry these scriptures around with them, they like the feel of them so much, and I m always finding them in random places. The Program Guide is helpful if you are planning a party or church event.  There are tips on decorating , printables to print for affixing to walls, printable scrolls, snack ideas to fit with the theme of Jesus and the Cross, and an object lesson to introduce this theme. The Program Guide would be really helpful if you wanted to use the eggs as part of your Bible curriculum.  Most of the snacks use foods we don’t eat, so the snack part of it, as cute and meaningful as these snacks are, I couldn’t use them.  For the budget conscious, skip this and just get the glow-in-the-dark eggs.

Here’s what I love the most about the Egglo Eggs and why I keep one on my bedside table:
The eggs are a bit like us. If I spend time being charged by the Son, I glow more myself. However, when I don’t take the time to fully charge myself through prayer and Bible reading, I can quickly lose my light.  The glow-in-the-dark eggs are a hands-on reminder to keep charging.  So now a solitary egg sits on my bedside table and when I turn out the light at night, I see a reminder for the next day, to immerse myself more in His light. I was really glad to have the eggs to show the kids this truth.  The more we spend time with God, the more we will shine like Him.   Connect with Egglo Entertainment on Pinterest , Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Google +.  Read what others thought of the eggs by clicking on the graphic below:

Do you need something entertaining and easy peasy for teaching Science? I had never heard of ScienceandMath.com (in spite of the awards they have received).  Hence, I was anxious to see what their Amazing Science, Volume 1 would be like.

 Amazing Science, Volume 1 did not disappoint!  Amazing Science, Volume 1 is 2 DVDs with a total of 23 experiments, accessed from a menu screen.  Even my husband was enthralled.

How we used it:We watched all the experiments on the first DVD and most of the ones on the second DVD, watching them 3 to 4 times a week.  Each experiment video is about 10-15 minutes long, and Bear and J-jo happily sat through a few experiments per viewing.   Many of the experiments my children could do themselves, with most of the supplies being things we already had at home, which made it easy to recreate the experiments.  There were three or four experiments for which we did not have some of the supplies:  A neodymium magnet, a copper pipe, a 2L soda bottle (we never drink soda), dry ice, a can of soda.  Nevertheless, these supplies would have been easy for me to procure.  The supplies needed are clearly shown at the beginning of each experiment, but I really would have appreciated having a printable list. (You can find one at Kathy’s Cluttered Mind.)

We chose some experiments to recreate, and will likely attempt others as time allows.  Nevertheless, I would have been happy just to have us watch the whole thing and never do an experiment.  It’s that entertaining and you can learn so much science from just watching the DVDs since the explanations are so thorough and well executed.  However, the explanations are more geared for second to fifth grade, than K-1.  Although Bear comprehended a large portion of the scientific explanations, J-jo did not.  He was eager to move on to the next cool “magic trick” as he started called these experiments.  The cloud in a bottle (you can view this science experiment as a sample) especially had a great wow factor for my kids. I had Bear narrate to me each of the explanations to me to see if she was comprehending and she loved to explain the “magic” to her dad.

The video is very captivating.  This is science the kids request to watch.  Jason Gibson, the host, holds degrees in engineering and physics and worked for NASA.  Sometimes, the most knowledgeable people do not make the best teachers, but Jason is engaging and personable, and he explains the science behind each experiment clearly, in an animated manner. He is not dry and boring.     

The presentation aids in understanding and viewing the experiment, as there are various camera views and close-ups, and the steps are well detailed. Here are some of the topics covered:

• Air pressure
• Chemical reactions/molecular bonding
• Surface Tension
• Batteries and Electricity
• Magnetic Forces
• States of Matter
• Heat Conduction and
• Light

Though we used it as additional science, and did not correlate it to the science we were already doing – we just plowed through all the videos in order – you could choose one experiment each week, watch the DVD, do the experiment with your kids, and spend more time exploring the concept.  Or you could watch the experiments that correspond with what you are studying in your current science curriculum.

What I thought:

What I loved:

• It’s an easy addition to any science curriculum you already use.  It is a fantastic educational choice for rainy days, sick homeschool days, forgot-to-plan-my-week days, and even days you have everything together.
• The experiments work! There have been so many other science curricula in which we have had disappointing experiments that failed.  Not so with Amazing Science, Volume 1.
• The experiments use everyday supplies from around the house or are easy to procure.
• The kids loved it because it was engaging and the experiments seemed like magic tricks. Science truly is AMAZING!  They enjoyed doing the experiments themselves (though they seemed perfectly content just watching the videos).
• Safety is emphasized as Jason makes sure to put on safety glasses before every experiment (although, this seemed slightly ridiculous for experiments like lifting an ice cube with a piece of string, or watching colors swirl in milk).

What I didn’t:

• The explanations were sometimes lengthy.  Jason repeats the key points a few times which can be a good thing, but in our case, made the kids (Jjo is outside the age range of the product and Bear is at the low end) lose interest.  In spite of this, I highly recommend the videos and the kids do too.  It’s just something you may want to be aware of.
• Jason uses the words “heck” and “darn” a couple of times, so just a heads-up if you are very sensitive to the language your children hear.  The “heck” startled me when I heard it.
• It would be nice for ScienceandMath.com to provide a supply list on the inside of the DVD case.

This DVD is recommended for elementary aged students.

Bottom Line: We loved it and highly recommend it! It’s perfect for the science phobic mom (or dad).  You can purchase Amazing Science, Volume 1 through ScienceandMath.com for $17.95 (the list price is $24.95, so that is quite a deal). It is also available as a download for $14.99. You can check out the trailer on the Amazing Science page.

The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew also reviewed ScienceandMath.com’s Mastering 5th Grade Math – Volume 1 – Fractions for Grades 4-6, and Algebra 1: Volume 1 with
Fractions Thru Algebra Companion Worksheet CD for Grades 7 and up. If you’d like to know what others thought about Amazing Science, Volume 1 or any of these other ScienceandMath.com products, please click on the image below.

I’ve been trying to send the children outside more, especially with the warmer days.  I know that being outdoors is important, but it sure can be challenging to spend time outside with busy schedules.  Yet,  I lived outside as a kid.  What has changed?  In fact, this is why I’ve been wanting to read Last Child in the Woods {affil. link} since it came out years ago. However, the library only has it as an audio book and I would fall asleep every time I tried to listen to it, not because it isn’t inspiring (far from it), but because it was usually bedtime when I was finally able to carve out time to listen. I finally just included the parperback in my last Amazon order and have been reading it during Bear’s gymnastics practices.  It’s eye opening and clearly, I don’t send my kids outside enough anymore and I want that to change.  I used to make a huge effort when Bear was younger to make sure we went outside all the time.  Now that she is school aged, I find we are doing school and letting it and gymnastics eat up all that fresh air time.  So last Sunday, when the weather was warm, I sent them out.  What follows is a great inspiration to me that sometimes it’s what happens in spite of the schedule that is most meaningful.

 The Secret to Get Your Kids Enthused About Nature Study:

If you send your kids outside to play,  chances are they will come running in with massive clumps of these pretty purple flowers (a weed, rampart in all the yards on the street), ecstatic to have picked flowers for mom.  Mom will probably excitedly grab her nature journal and say, “These are so beautiful, I want to record them in my nature journal.”
And if mom picks up her nature journal and starts to draw, two other children will rush to get their nature journals and start to draw, too.
Chances are that if mom writes out the Latin name for the flower, a certain 6 year old will eagerly do so as well.
Moreover, if the 4 year old sees everyone writing, he will insist on his own pencil and refuse that mom scribes for him.
And if the children are content and fulfilled doing this impromptu activity with mom, chances are they will be excited to point out more things found in nature.

The moral: Children love to imitate us and do as we do, so dig in and enjoy some nature study, too.