TOS Crew Review: Kinderbach

What is Kinderbach? Well, it is a music teaching tool for children ages 3 to 7. Kinderbach uses the piano or a keyboard to teach your child to read and understand music, and eventually to play. There are 6 levels (with Level 7 coming soon!) and each level consists of 10 weeks of lessons. The lessons have entertaining videos, worksheets, and activities or games to reinforce the learning.



My children were a little resistant at first, but quickly responded to Karri - the host on the videos as well as the founder and creator of Kinderbach. Karri encourages the kids to play along and my kids did! They enjoyed following Frisco’s lead and walking the notes or hopping up for high notes and squatting down for low notes. After the lesson that involved listening for high and low notes, FRitW and MT took turns playing high or low notes on the piano and letting the other do the worksheet provided.



The interactive videos were entertaining and short enough to hold a child’s attention. We used our Wii to access the videos, so the kids could see easily and spread out in the living room to do the activities. The variety of activities and worksheets are sure to appeal to many different types of learners. We recently purchased a piano so Kinderbach was a great way to introduce our new instrument. Several times I’ve noticed the kids trying out things they learned from the Kinderbach videos, like rhythm patterns and finger placements.

We did have some issues with Kinderbach in the online format. We had videos stop in the middle of playing and had to wait for them to load – but we live in the country and are very limited on internet service. We also had trouble hearing the piano part of a piece when there were background instruments playing. The background instruments sometimes drowned out the piano notes.



Overall, I really enjoyed the Kinderbach program. Kinderbach offers the first two weeks of lessons free online so you can try it out to see if it is a good fit for your family as well.

The full program is available online or on DVD’s. Online memberships are $95.88 per year (which works out to $7.99 per month) or $19.99 if paid monthly. The DVD’s begin at $40.45 and are a great choice if you have a slow internet connection.

Click here to see what other Crew members thought about Kinderbach.

**Any products reviewed by me as a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

TOS Crew Review: Go Go KaBongo!

Go Go Kabongo is a silly, funny, colorful online world designed for children aged 4-7. As fun and silly as it is, it is also a learning experience. Go Go KaBongo helps children develop the essential skills needed to read. The chart below shows the skills learned as they play each game. The games were fast moving and creative, and my little guys loved them.

Go Go Kabongo consists of three ‘habitats’: Laughter Lake, Twister Top, and Galaxy Gardens. Each habitat has a zany character to show you the rules and three games to play. The games start out very simply and grow more difficult as the player’s skills improve.



Laughter Lake’s games are Critter Sizer, Going Buggy, and Scuba Dude. Critter Sizer requires your child to make quick decisions about whether an animal is large or small. Going Buggy encourages the player to listen carefully to recreate a story using bugs and spiders. Scuba Dude tests your memory as you search for the correct shells and starfish and make sure you find them in the correct order without running into sharks!



Twister Top’s games are Desert Dash, Crazy Maze, and Design-a-Door. In Desert Dash the player hears letter sounds and must drive over them in the correct order while avoiding obstacles. Crazy Maze starts with a word family and allow the student to move a beginning sound through a maze to the word ending to create a word. Design-a-Door is a memory game, with the player studying the patterns on a door and after a set time having to recreate the door from memory.



Galaxy Gardens games are Robo Bobo, Rocket Racer, and Photo Safari. Robo Bobo is a puzzle game where you fill in the missing shapes. Rocket Racer is a letter finding race as the player tries to select the correct letter based on its sound. Photo Safari requires a little planning as the player clicks on animals to photograph and then must find a special item for each animal in order to earn more film.

We have really enjoyed these games and Go Go Kabongo is super affordable. Go Go Kabongo is a new site and offers Laughter Lake absolutely free (just click the blue 'play now' circle on the home page.) For a limited time they are also offerning Galaxy Gardens for free when you sign up and Twister Top is available for a one time fee of $4.95. That means that right now you can have access to the entire site for $4.95 per child. That is not a monthly fee, but a ONE-TIME fee of only $4.95 if you sign up now!

Other TOS Crew members reviewed this game too – click here to see what they thought.

**Any products reviewed by me as a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

Perse Anality Project - Month One

I decided to join a monthly project club this year. I found a fun one available through a quilt shop, not too far from here. Stitchin' Heaven in Quitman, TX is offering Perse Anality's Tote Club for 2011. The perse designs are created by Cara Quilts. I began in February and received a bright pink, purple, and paisley purse to produce (say that 3 times fast! ~grin~) I always wash my fabric first and when I did, I managed to lose my instructions. Hmmm... now what?

Well, it finally occurred to me that the sweet ladies at Stitchin' Heaven might be able to help me - and I was absolutely correct. A super fast email response from Niki got be right back on track. So, with emailed instructions (saved to my hard drive in case I lose the print out again!)  I began this cute little purse.

The whole project took me about 2 hours and Maggie was thrilled with the results! I love the overall shape of the purse, but am not a real fan of pink and purple. Maggie however has been the Purple Princess as of late and even happened to be wearing hot pink and purple as she modeled the new purse.

I have March's Perse to get finished (hopefully before I receive the April pattern in the mail) so watch for another Perse Anality post soon!

TOS Homeschool Crew Review: Z Guide to the Movies

Zeezok Publishing Z Guides are a wonderful way to turn movies into homeschool supplements. We received a copy of The Adventures of Robin Hood Z Guide to use. This Z Guide is for the High School level, but there are also some Middle School level guides.

Our Z Guide included a 5 day plan for using the guide with the 1938 version of The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn to delve into topics such as Medieval English History, Ethnic Conflict, Chivalry, and Civil Disobedience. The Z Guide provides historical background information, an overview of the movie, and ten learning activities to create a thorough study of the film.

Kirk was the tester for our Z Guide. We rented the correct Robin Hood film from Netflix and printed out the Z Guide. Kirk’s first task was to watch the movie and answer the review questions. These are designed to help your student stay tuned into the movie and pick out important moments or events. Next he was lead to learn more about King Richard and Prince John. This research was completed with an encyclopedia, a G.A. Henty book (or two) and an internet search. Eighteen questions really helped him gather specific, relative information.

Day Two activities were further questions, these designed to help you see the differences between the Normans and the Saxons and the Feudal System. I think Kirk enjoyed the short answer format with occasional fill-in-the-blank questions. I liked the depth of the questions. These are thought provoking questions that uncover historical and cultural lessons.

Day Three moved away from questions to answer. Kirk was instructed to compose and record an oath defining how he would live his life. A discussion of Robin Hood’s excellence in archery further challenges the student to be the best he or she can be and they are given the assignment of choosing an activity they desire to be proficient in and setting up a practice schedule to provide accountability.

Day Four was a word search and a challenge to practice the Golden Rule. Kirk was encouraged to think of someone he doesn’t get along with and work hard for one year to do something nice once a month for that person.

Day Five included a Worldview Activity, asking students to consider and discuss the actions of characters in the movie. These were tough questions! Sometimes the line between right and wrong can be so blurry. The final activity for Day Five was a discussion that brought out many interesting techniques used by the filmmakers.

Finally were questions designed for family discussion. We did watch the movie several times as a family and enjoyed arguing about who was right or wrong and why.

We really enjoyed the Z Guide for The Adventure of Robin Hood and will definitely buy further Z Guides. They were meaty enough to be worth the $12.99 , and simple enough to include in any study. I learned a lot just from watching the movie and the discussions sparked by the Z Guide.

Zeezok Publishing has a number of Z Guides available for movies, some of which are:

• A Tale of Two Cities
• Kit Kittredge
• The Hiding Place
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Father Goose

They have an amazing variety and also offer the movies for sale (The Adventures of Robin Hood DVD is a very reasonable $12.98). Check out the full listing by clicking here.

Click here to see what other members of the TOS Homeschool Crew thought about Z-Guides.

**Any products reviewed by me as a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.