TOS Review - Vocal Coach

Lilly has been bugging me wanted singing lessons for forever but it's never been in the budget, so when the chance came up to review Vocal coach I was so relieved happy. There were a couple of products to choose from so we opted for Vocal Coach Singer which includes 7 training Cd's, 4 workout Cd's, and an instructional guidebook (I got the download version) which equates to over $2,000 worth of professional voice coaching.

Chris and Carole Beatty who created Vocal Coach, have taught and coached singers for over 40 years. They have a very professional system of vocal coaching that will help both improve the sound of your voice and puts an emphasis on the mechanics of singing - It's as good as having your own personal trainer.

The 7 training programmes include:

• Getting Started
• Breathing
• Warm-Up
• Tone
• Expanding Your Range
• Diction
• Performance

workout programmes:

• Daily Workout High Voice 1 & 2
• Daily Workout Medium/Low Voice 1 & 2

and the guidebook includes;

• Printable sheets for each exercise
• Singer's Journal 
• Song Evaluation 

This set is packed full of indepth content (for example the "complete breathing" programme has over 20 files) and their passion for what they do really shows through.  They also have a number of  free resources available on their website including tips, videos, articles and interactive lessons. 

After having a look through the programme, you start with the breathing exercises and systematically move through the sections (Chris and Carole do suggest you consistently review the first three sections - breathing, warm up and tone).

The girls have done some singing at church but this is about more than learning to carry a tune - I love that they teach proper posture and breathing. We really, really, really enjoyed this programme and we have certainly benefited from it - even just from using it for 30 mins three times a week : )

‘Vocal Coach Singer’ is intended to be used with older students and adults (13+) but Lilly and Sunflower (10 & 8) were both fine using this.

The Vocal Coach Singer Cd's are available for $119.99 or as a download for $99.99.

You can see what my crew mates thought of this and some of their other products aimed at younger children over on the TOS Blog

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of the download so I could provide an open and honest review.
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Growing up Wild - TOS Review

Growing up Wild is a collection of educational DVDs that takes you deep into the jungles of Indonesia and introduces you the daily life of four brothers from a missionary family. 

They share examples of life in the jungle, local wildlife and introduces you to the Wano tribe and culture. I received two of the DVDs 

Volume 1 which covers

• Home Sweet Hut - you get a glimpse of the Wild brothers house and how the Wano tribe live.
• Supply Trip - all about bulk buying the supplies they can't produce themselves.
• Sun & Water - how they use nature to provide the electricity they need.

and Volume 4 covering

• Amazing World Around Us - takes a look at some of the amazing wildlife. 
• Adventures In Culture - an exploration of the Wano culture including war, hunting and nose piercing.
• Tribal Calling - explores how the Wilds found their calling. 

Each episode is approximatley 15 mins long and for the most part it is narrated by the mother as you watch the boys daily life unfold. Each DVD comes with an additional activity guide (on cd-rom) jam packed with suggested activities to help them explore topics covered in the DVD's. Some additional materials will be needed for a couple of these activities (like clay, sticks, paint etc.) but are usually items you will have around the house. You can view a sample guide to see what you think.

I was so excited when these arrived - we haven't studied Indonesia in detail yet and I thought this would be a fantastic introduction and it is!
But it did so much more that just introduce them to a new culture and a different way of living. It also got them thinking about the important things in life - how family, the Gospel and community are so much more important then objects (Tulip couldn't believe that they only had a lego loft, she's not sure she could cope with just lego but if she could take dolls, lego and colouring then she would be happy to leave the rest behind)

The activity guides were varied and enjoyable. They included reading Scriptures, exploring your surroundings, research, field trips, crafts, worksheets and more. I loved how it incorporated educational elements into real life situations. I think my personal favourite was the girls trying to create their own solar water heaters - it's minus 3 outside but they still tried : )

but they enjoyed the hut building activity the most - which ended up turning into a 3 hour activity building different types of huts.

I loved how the Wilds share the importance of God in their life and the use of scriptural quotes in each episode.

It is aimed at 5-12 year olds, but everyone will enjoy it. Rose joined in (she's just turned 4) and hubby  (30 something) even sat and watched a couple with us - he especially liked the snake episode and it lead to some great tales of his childhood in Nigeria when he apparently had snake for dinner.

Each DVD is available for $18.99 or you can get a 15% discount and buy all 5 for $80.99.

You can see what my crew mates thought over at the TOS Blog

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of the DVD so I could provide an open and honest review.

Questions, questions!

We seem to have done less work this week as its been dominated by questions.

Every day, just before we are supposed to start lessons, one of the girls has come up with a question that sparks the imagination of the others and we get side tracked searching for the answers. It's a good job I'm happy being in a child led environment (otherwise I may feel some pain that all my planning has gone to waste and we are falling behind - or from another viewpoint I don't have to do any planning this weekend)

Some of my favourite questions this week have been:

• Is there a scientific name for animal fur? we discovered thee types of fur (guard hairs, tactile hairs and insulating hairs) but not a specific name for all fur.
• Which continent gets the new year first? apparently its the Australian continent.
• Why is the sunset red? if you have ever done the 'sky is blue' experiment with milk and a torch you get a wonderful answer to this.
• Why are nocturnal animals nocturnal? there were loads of answers to this including due to heat, hunting other nocturnal animals and safety from day time predators.
• Why don't trees move? they soon realised (thanks to 'Life of Plants') that trees do move just not like we do.

Much as I welcome these questions I do hope they take a back seat next week and we get more done.

What have been your favourite questions?

TOS Review - Activity Bags

Activity Bags are self guided activities in a bag - the idea is that your child can complete the work independently with little to no input from you : )

Nope you are not dreaming - some very kind homeschooling mums started Activity Bags as a way to keep their preschoolers learning while they were busy teaching their older kids. They came up with activities, put all the materials in bags and did a swap. It proved such a success that it has since grown from the original 'Preschool Activity in a Bag' to encompass Science, Reading, Math and Travel games.

Activity Bags are unique as they are designed both for individual use or to swap (there is a free coordinator handbook if you want to run a swap). A swap involves finding a number of other like-minded mums - making a number of the same activity bags and meeting together to trade. You end up with loads of different activities for your child while only having to make one type.

I was offered the Science Bundle: 3 ebooks containing 25 experiments each. Each experiment includes a supplies list (calculated for 1, 10, 20 or 30 bags), project label, instruction sheet, observations/questions sheet and a safety warning label.

Science 1 covers biology, nature and general science

 Science 2 covers human body, chemistry and general science

Science 3 covers chemistry

these books are aimed at k - 8th but my preschooler joined in (with help) and had great fun.

I also got Math games in a Bag - this includes 33 activities and is aimed at elementary students (although my preschooler again joined in ). I was once told that children understand math concepts best, not through drills but through games - this ebook is a perfect way  to cement math facts in a fun way.

I was so excited when these arrived - I looked through the activities to see which ones would be a good fit for us and got bag making. The good news is these activity bags are designed to use normal household items (although you will need to go out for a few special items - like Borax). I started small and put together a few bags and popped them in their work boxes. The girls loved them so much that I couldn't make them fast enough (I will hold my hands up and admit that demand exceeded supply and I ran out of bags, so I ended up popping the supplies directly into their work boxes.)

I know a product is a true hit when they use it during their free time - I caught Rose and Tulip playing regularly.

and Sunflower kept repeating the 'making glue' experiment.

These are fantastic learning activities and a really welcome addition to our homeschool. If I were organised enough and had all 108 activities bagged and ready to go just imagine how happy I would be (a girl can dream can't she).....I think its time I organised a swap : )

The science and math games ebooks are available for $15 each but there are discounts if bundles are purchased. They have the option of filling  out a quick survey to receive a free sample ebook so you can see how well they work for you.

You can see what my crew mates thought of the various Activity Bag ebooks over at the TOS Blog

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the Activity Bags ebooks in exchange for an open and honest review.