A review for the site HelpMe2Teach.com

Today I will review a site called HelpMe2Teach.com . This has been our first official assignment for the TOS Crew. I took a few days to check it out and ponder what to write…

HelpMe2Teach is a tool which helps a teacher or homeschool parent to find in a record time some prescreened websites on specific subject. You could find up to 2000 links to educational sites with HelpMe2Teach. Let me specify that this is not a search engine. The author has been a teacher for more than 40 years and has spent numerous hours to gather the information that you could find on the site. However, there is a price attached to this site. You have to pay a subscription to be able to access this directory of internet resources. Memberships are available on a trial, one-a-month, three months or annual basis. Prices varies according to the type of membership you choose going from 4, 95$ US for a trial subscription to up to 29, 95$ US for an annual subscription.

This internet tool list the links in 23 categories - Academic benchmarks $ Standards, Animals, Arts & Crafts, Computers, Cooking for kids, For Teachers/Parents only, Foreign Languages, Health & Safety, Holidays, Kites, Language Arts, Magazines/Student/Student News, Mathematics, Media, Multi-Subjects Sites, Music & Dance, Olympics, Preparing for College, Primarily Primary, Science, Social Studies, Special Pay Sites, and Specialty Topics.

Once you have bought your subscription and accessed the site, you will have the categories. You simply click on a specific category to access the link that will interest you or you type your subject of interest in the search box at the top of the page. Simple enough as you can see. But is it worth spending your money on this site? Let’s see what I have found.

Personally, I find the site interesting enough to investigate it. There is lots of interesting subjects that I could dig into. I discovered some very interesting sites as I was looking into HelpMe2Teach. I even found a Canadian site with lesson plans! And since we are studying creation these days, I thought it would be interesting to check out the subject of dinosaurs. I found only secular sites about it. While doing another search I probably found the only Christian site listed in there and that site had a dinosaur section on a Christian perspective. They even had a video for the kids to watch which I found was very interesting by the way!
Unfortunately, I have found many broken links while performing the searches I wanted. Personally this is a turndown for me. I don’t like having broken links… Another thing I realized is that there are a lot of repeats for some sites. I would suspect that the person who would have bought the 29, 95$ subscription would be quite disappointed with it because of the broken links and the repeats. Finally, my last negative point for this tool would be that if you perform a search on anything related to the Bible like Noah, Jesus, Tower of Babel and so on, nothing will come up. I couldn’t even found anything on butterflies! I think it’s sad that you don’t give access to this kind of information. For example, when I type birth of Jesus links about science and animals came up because of the word birth in my search criteria. Mmmm! Not quite effective for a search right? I guess this is what they mean by prescreened websites… But I am still wondering why there is sites about Jewish Holidays like Passover, Chanuka and Purim or about Kwanzaa which is a holiday for African American and nothing about the Christian fatih. Mind you there are sites about Christmas and Easter but these sites have a secular perspective to it.

Being a search engine queen, I must honestly say that I wouldn’t get such a subscription for me. However, I know that not everyone is wired the same way and do not possess the gift of finding interesting sites rapidly. So HelpMe2Teach might help if you are such a person. But do not subscribe to the more expensive subscription because I think you will be disappointed. I would strongly suggest that you take a less expensive version depending on how much time you have in your hands to dig into this site. Then you can save the links in your Favorites folder of your browser. And if you are a Christian, remember that you won’t find any links related to all the stories of the Bible. You better perform you own search on Google or Yahoo… If you are interested in HelpMe2Teach.com , visit their site and click on the sign-up link at the top of the page.

UPDATE:Since I wrote this review, Elaine at HelpMe2Teach has made many improvement to the site. She included the missing searches I had found and also included a christian section. This is a work in progress and she has asked the crew to provided any interesting sites for her to add - especially on the Christian ones. She also asked us to tell our readers that right now she is having a promotion.

BUY A 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION AND GET A 2ND YEAR FREE!

This is an amazing deal when you think about it. To get this deal, simply use the code TOS in the discount code field when subscribing. With more the 2,000 prescreened websites, this site is a really good tool for the kids to use while doing research on a subject. And remember, if you don't find something let Elaine know about it and she will rapidly modify the site to include whatever you have mentioned to her. She is the only person who works on this site and she has proved to be a dedicated person who listen to her users. I am impressed with her rapid response and her willingness to ask for help to find sites that could be interesting for Christians.

A review for The Schoolhouse Planner

I must honestly say that I have mixed feelings about The Schoolhouse Planner. Why? You may ask… First let me tell you that I can see the importance of having such a tool as a homeschool mom and how useful it can become. The Schoolhouse Planner contains many sections to record all the possible activities that a homeschool family would do from arts and crafts to science and much more!

The Schoolhouse Planner is divided in three major parts. The first part of the Planner is divided into 12 sections representing the 12 months of the school year from July 2008 to June 2009. Each monthly section contains a must-know in homeschooling, an essay from an author in the homeschool community, some recipes and a resource list. The must-knows are very fascinating and informative. I really enjoyed reading the timeline of inventions, the famous composers and the history timeline. I also personally read all the essays and thought that they were interesting. Some were very informative while others were just a revision of things I already knew. Getting new recipes was a bonus for me. I can’t wait to try the Cheeseburger Rolls and the Easy Taco Soup! Having a resource list is always interesting especially when you are looking for a product to cover something your children are studying.

The next section that you will find in the Planner is the Homeschool Forms Instructions. This section contains forms to help you organize your homeschool administration as well as keep track of the books read, crafts made, bible verses memorized, field trip done to name only a few. In this section, I found many forms that I will use during the coming school year. These forms will help me to record all the activities we do as well as the extra-curricular activities my children will take. This section is a must have!

The last section that is found in the Planner is the Household Forms Instructions. I am wondering why this section is necessary. On the other hand, I can see that others could potentially have trouble keeping track of the information regarding their family. This section contains forms to help you better organize your home like information for a babysitter, health matters, schedules, menu planners, grocery list, inventories, chores, budget and so on. You will also find a bible reading schedule, a prayer journal, a vacation planner and an address book. Being part of a family who is computerized in every aspect possible, we do not need most of these forms. However, I can understand how important this could be for a wife to know all the different aspects of a home especially the finances. These forms will help anyone who wants to understand more about family affairs. One thing I am wondering though is why there isn’t a form for the insurances – home, car, and health – or even something about wills? I think that this is important information to have access to when needed and in case of emergency.

Two options for printing are possible for homeschool families. You can either print the whole document or you can pick and choose the pages that you would like to have. Personally, I would go with the pick and choose option as there is a few things that I don’t need as a homeschool family living in Canada. Also, this option gives you the opportunity to print multiple copies of a specific form when you have more than one child in your homeschool.

In conclusion, I find that some sections are very interesting but again I wish the Planner would be more flexible concerning the numbers of children involved in the homeschool and for the type of information that it contains. I would especially love to have the option to indicate how many children I have so that I don’t have to figure out which documents I need to have in multiple copies. I can see this Planner as being a first step toward the computerization of the information. I wouldn’t mind seeing this information becoming a database or even a website where the user can modify and include information according to their needs. For example, instead of getting the list of presidents of the USA in my copy I would opt for the list of prime ministers of Canada. The Schoolhouse Planner is certainly an interesting e-book to consider managing your homeschool and house. I would encourage all homeschoolers to take the time to see if this tool would be useful for them.

If you are interested to purchase a copy of The Schoolhouse Planner, please visit The Old Schoolhouse Store.

A review for the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

When I first heard of the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse magazine, I was wondering why a digital version… I must admit that I like having a paper copy in my hands to carry around. I was also wondering what the digital version would look like. To my surprise I now see the numerous advantages of it.

To begin with, I am really impressed with the look and feel of the digital version. I instantly loved the format and the presentation. It is very easy to use for experienced and not-so-experienced computer users. Being an advanced user I checked all the different options.

When I clicked on the contents button, I found all the different sections of the magazine. When I selected one specific one, it brought me automatically to the section selected. The pages option however allowed me to see the whole magazine as thumbnails and select whatever page I wish read. No need to shuffle through the magazine and check the pages to find what I want to read. This is a definite advantage.

I really liked the search button which permitted me to look for something specific in the fastest way possible. For example, if I am looking for an article that contains the word “draw” in it, I type the word in the search field and click submit. The search functionality would bring me all the articles containing the word I typed in the search field. It’s easy, fast and reliable.

The links button lists all the links that are found on the current page. I especially love the convenience that the links are included in the page because if I see an advertisement I really like I can easily click on it and I go directly to the vendor’s website. How often have I seen a link in a magazine that I never followed up on? With the digital version, it is as easy as a click of the mouse.

An interesting feature of the digital magazine is the settings button which allows me to modify the view of the magazine. I personally like the two pages presentation which allows me to read an entire article on the screen at once.

I am very enthusiastic about the digital version of this magazine because of its numerous functionalities. One of them excites me a lot because I now have the possibility to share a specific article with a friend without having to worry about the logistics of lending out my hard copy. Finally, I like the option of downloading the magazine and keeping it on my hard drive for future reference. Other great features are bookmarking a page, printing a page, getting help, viewing in full page and the RSS Feed (which contains a summary of the magazine).

The help that is provided is totally amazing! The help section is done with videos which demonstrate and guide a user through all the different options of the magazine. It is well done and the information provided is very clear. To learn how to use a specific feature of the digital magazine, you simply select the specific video and listen to it.

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  Other advantages of having the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine would be:
• The fact that you receive it as soon as it is available. No need to wait on the postman to get your magazine, you get it directly in your e-mail.
• It is reasonably priced which will allow families who are on a tight budget to subscribe to this useful and wonderful homeschool magazine.
• It’s perfect for families who are environmentally conscious seeing as this edition is entirely electronic which eliminates the need for paper.
• Provides a format that is dynamic and easy to use, full of color and containing all the same information as the paper copy.
• And finally you even receive free gifts when you subscribe to the digital version!
  

In a nutshell, the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is worth considering. It contains all the same information as the paper copy and is easy to use. I would strongly recommend giving this version of the magazine a try. You might be surprise how much you will enjoy it. To be completely honest, I will even consider switching to the digital version of the magazine when my subscription ends. It’s easy, fun to use and I just love the fact that I have access to all the links at a click of my mouse. I can honestly say that I am totally sold for the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse magazine!