Guitar 360 - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

In October I learned we had a new vendor opportunity: Guitar 360 Method

In exchange for our honest review, Crew Members received online access to the Semester 1 Bundle (including 5 weeks of Absolute Beginner bonus content + the 13 weeks of Semester 1), taught by Krisz Simonfali.


I taught myself how to play guitar when I was 14. Back then the available methods were to either pay for classes or learn from a book. I taught myself chords from books. I became proficient enough to play with another guitar player to lead the music for our school's Young Life Club meetings. So I started with the notion that I am not a beginner.

Nevertheless, I figured I would start with the Absolute Beginner course.

I really expected I would be giving a quick overview of the beginner's course and then be moving on to the 13-week course. I was very wrong. Clearly there is a lot to learn about guitar that I did not learn from a chord book starting at age 14. From Lesson 1, I was scrambling to remember all the new information that was being introduced. 

In Lesson 1, day 1, I learned the names of the parts of the guitar and the strings that are on the guitar. So, I had previously learned high E and low E, but I had never learned the strings in between. I didn't need them to play the chords C, G, A, Em and D, so I didn't bother. Here is the content in Week 1:

Then the instructor began introducing chords. I immediately learned that my fingernails were too long. They grow fast, and I have had to cut and file constantly during this review!

Not one chord that has been introduced so far is a chord I already knew (or that I hadn't forgotten)! So... I'm not even done with the introductory course for Absolute Beginners, but I couldn't finish! There was so much to learn! (In the photos below I would tell you what the chords are if I could, but I'm still struggling to remember how to play them, let alone which chord each one is.)

The first chord was introduced in Week 2:

The rest of the chords, progression, strumming, etc. for the song were introduced in Week 3, as well as how the chords all go together with someone singing the song:

 
After learning many chords which are played up and down the neck of the guitar, on frets up to frets 7 to 9, a song was introduced using all the chords. I wanted to finish Practice levels 2 and 3, but I wanted to be able to do the song well, and I just don't have it yet. There are strumming techniques that have been introduced that I just don't have down yet, and chords that I just can't play (and make sound good) yet.

Don't let me scare you away -- I am actually just trying to say, "Don't dismiss this "Beginner" course. It is not just for beginners! Check it out!"

The course is taught on an acoustic guitar. I only have a classical guitar, so that is what I had to use. I suspect that some of the problems I am having with some of the chords may be because of the guitar I am using. I think the neck is wider. I envy the instructor for his long fingers -- he makes things look easy, but I struggle to do the same chords with my shorter fingers and just... can't... make them sound right! It may, however, just be that I need more practice. This brings me to the beauty of a self-paced video course. 1) I can go at my own pace. 2) I can repeat the video as many times as I want, playing along with the video. This differs from paying an instructor for in-person lessons once or twice a week. When you walk away, if you aren't able to remember what was covered it is difficult to practice until the next lesson. You might be practicing something incorrectly, cementing improper information into the brain and improper chord holds into muscle memory. With video lessons you can repeat and repeat and repeat until you completely grasp it and are ready to move on.

To recap, this Semester 1 Bundle comes with the 3-Week Absolute Beginner Bonus Content, the 13-week Semester 1 course, and Bonus Songs Lessons 1 & 2. The beginner course teaches parts of the guitar, strings on the guitar, tuning, a series of fret chords that are used in a song that is taught, strumming techniques and some picking.

The Semester 1 course covers:

• Fundamental chord shapes;
• A textural 16th note approach to strumming;
• Basic Chord Vocabulary;
• Sharps, Flats, Chord names
• Finding all A's, B's and E's on the guitar
• Solfege
• The Major scale
• The Minor scale
• Minor Pentatonic scale

This is in just the first five weeks, and there is so much there that I am not listing! This course is so amazing! I am really looking forward to going through it. There is so much I have yet to learn! I'm going to continue working on this program, because I hope to impress my son when he comes back from college for his winter break. Or, if he is not impressed yet in December, when he comes back from college after his spring semester I am hoping he will be so impressed that he will also go through the course! He also taught himself to play guitar, as I did, but with the advantage of learning from YouTube videos. His playing is so much more advanced than mine, but I still think there is a lot he could learn from this course!


The folks at Guitar 360 Method want my readers to know that they are offering a 20% discount on this course to my readers during this Product Review campaign with the Homeschool Review Crew. To get the discount, go to Guitar 360 Method, click on "Purchase the Course", and in the checkout process enter the HOMESCHOOL20 Coupon Code. The regular price is $149, which includes the 3-week Beginners' Course, Semester 1 (13 weeks long), and the 2 Bonus Song mini-courses. With the Coupon Code, their investment will be only $119.20 for 10+ hours of video content!

Other members of The Old Schoolhouse Homschool Review Crew also reviewed this product. To read more reviews and get other perspectives, please click the link button below to go to the page where all the linkies are listed.

Balancing Diapers and Deadlines - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

In September I learned of an upcoming product for review by Lisa Tanner Writing.
The product is called Balancing Diapers and Deadlines.
Balancing Diapers and Deadlines was created by a mom of many blessings. I think she has nine children. (One was born during this review period!) She had to come up with a system to manage her family well and still run her home business. Once she created her system, she decided to make it available so that other moms could also benefit from it!

At first glance you might think this product is not a good fit for you, or that it is not something you need. After all, maybe you do not have nine children, but only two or three, Maybe you do not have a home business.

In my own situation, you might have thought it silly for me to volunteer for this review. In my situation -- all children now adults and out of the home, and no home business -- it might seem an unnecessary course to consider.

In actuality, though, in my situation time seemed to be slipping through my fingers. No diapers, no children, few deadlines... time seemed to be slipping through my fingers. I volunteered for this review -- asked for it, actually! -- because I wanted help redeeming my time. I actually have a lot of things I want to get done, need to get done, should get done... but without deadlines, time just kept slipping by and very little was getting done. I was anxious to get started!

My goal during the review period was to work on the course at least three days per week. I wanted to actually work on the course more days per week, but I think I averaged three days per week once I got started. When I first logged into the course I was actually out of town, visiting my son's college for Parent Weekend. Once I got back I did my best to get started quickly. Once I got going, I realized I could either cover sections of the course daily or read a section and then try to apply it, but I could not go at a fast pace if I was also trying to implement the course work.

I'm sure you would find it helpful to see an outline of the course. Here is the outline: 

Unit 1: Welcome to Balancing Diapers and Deadlines
  
Unit 2: Building Your Foundation With the Basics:

• Get Your Family On Board with Your Business;
• Flexible Routines;
• Making a Plan-of-the-Day;
• Plan-of-the-Day Part 2

Unit 3: Minimize Your Decisions:

• A Day For Each Child;
• Keeping the House in Order;
• Let's Talk About Laundry...;
• The 15-Minute Quick-Clean;
• Morning Chores;
• Table Chores;
• Afternoon Chores;
• Ensuring Chores Get Done: The Marble Jar System

Unit 4: Minimize Your Decisions: The Annual Meal Plan

• Planning Breakfast;
• Planning Lunch;
• Planning Dinner With Themes;
• Don't Forget About Snacks!;
• Making Your Shopping List

Unit 5: Sustainable Growth:

• You Need Sleep!
• You Need Some Free Time!
• Getting Creative with Your Time;
• Setting Boundaries;
• Sometimes it's Worth Paying for Time-Saving Services

Unit 6: Growing a Business with Your Kids Around

• Growing a Business with Little Ones (0-5);
• Growing Your Business with Middles (5-10);
• Growing Your Business with Bigs (11-18);
• Growing a Business with a Child with Special Needs;
• Integrating Your Kids Into Your Business;
• Family Brainstorming Time;
• Getting Started with Family Writing Time

Unit 7: Boosting Your Productivity

• Mornings Matter;
• Ending Your Days Well;
• Use Think Time When You Can't Sit Down to Work;
• Improve Your Typing Speed;
• Make Your Spare Minutes Count

 Unit 8: Closing Thoughts

• You Have to Fail at Some Tasks;
• Any Questions?

The first item from the course that totally benefited me was a plan that might seem obvious to some, but it was something I was not doing. The program recommends having a daily family meeting, going over the schedule and the things that need to be done, and assign tasks to family members. For me that meant meeting with my family of one every day over breakfast, making sure I had a "To Do" list, prioritizing it, and start tackling my list.

Such a simple task, yet it has really helped me to get things done. I didn't do it perfectly, but I did my best, and here is what I found:
1) I got more done when I wrote things down so that I had a list to follow;
2) When I wrote things down, it made it easier to make sure I got important things done, that I didn't forget to do important things; and
3) When I did things from a list I had a better sense of accomplishment. For instance, yesterday I had a list "in my head", but at the end of the day I felt like I had only gotten three significant things done. When my husband got home and asked me what I'd done that day, I was like, "Dog to and from his shampoo, and two packages to the post office." Then I felt like I'd been a real slug! When I finally thought back on my day more thoroughly I realized I had actually:

• cleaned the master bathroom
• folded and put away the clean laundry
• made the bed
  
• pulled out my bin of winter wardrobe and completely transitioned my wardrobe from summer clothes to winter clothes
• dropped the dog off at the pet store to get his shampoo, nails and teeth done 
• prepared a package I needed to mail to my neighbor who is currently out of state
• prepared a package I needed to mail to my son out of state at college
• picked my dog up from the pet store
  
• took the two packages to the post office
• prepared and ate a healthy breakfast and lunch for myself and also prepared and ate dinner with my husband
• reviewed information from college advisor concerning my son's coursework for next semester
• worked on Balancing Diapers and Deadlines
• worked on Guitar360 course

That gives you an idea.

Another really amazing section of Balancing Diapers and Deadlines is the section where Lisa Tanner covers her meal planning system and how she prepares an Excel spreadsheet that becomes her shopping list. Lisa Tanner actually shops for her family only once a month. Eleven people, and a shopping trip only once a month -- I can't even imagine! Anyway, I really look forward to spending more time learning her method of using the Excel spreadsheet. I have a lot to learn there, and she explains the use of Excel very well.

Lisa Tanner has a method of meal planning that plans the entire year's meals for an entire year! She integrates into this meal planning system a day of the week per child (of an age that matters, so not the newborn, and she doubles up the second child with the oldest child). The child of the day helps plan the menu plan for the year, selecting meals that will be served on that child's days of the week, breakfast, lunch, dinner and shack. The child then has a vested interest in the day's meals, and that child works with mom that day to get the selected foods ready at each meal. It's a great system!

There is still so much for me to cover in this course. I can hardly wait! But I am breathing a sigh of relief now that I will have written the review, because I can slow down my pace. I really want to get into the information about using the Excel spreadsheet for the meal plan / shopping list system. I am not likely to shop once a month (I live one mile from the grocery store), and I am not likely to plan my menu for an entire year (my husband likes a little more flexibility than that), but I am looking forward to figuring out what I will use from Lisa Tanner's systems!

Other members of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew also reviewed Balancing Diapers and Deadlines. To read more reviews please click the button below: 

St. Bartholomew's Eve - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

In late August I learned there was a new Heirloom Audio adventure for us to review!

Shortly thereafter I received in the mail a small package that contained a two-CD set of the adventure entitled St. Bartholomew's Eve. 



Heirloom Audio is a company that creates high quality audio adventures based on historical novels by G.A. Henty, an author of children's historical novels in the early 1900's. The story of St. Bartholomew's Eve is set in France in the 1570's.

For many years Protestants in France, known as Huguenots, had been fleeing from persecution, going to Switzerland, Holland or England. The story of St. Bartholomew's Eve begins with 16-year-old Philip Fletcher, born in England to Huguenot emigrants, travels to France to stay with his aunt Emilie and cousin Francois, Huguenots still living in France.

Philip stays with his extended family for many years. The Protestant believers have to worship in secret -- it is a very dangerous time to be a Protestant in France. It was intriguing some of the methods used to determine whether the family was practicing Catholicism or Protestantism, such as asking a child in the family to sing Ave Maria (which the Huguenot children were not being taught by their parents). How scary!

The story builds gradually. Initially you come to know the individual characters -- Philip, with his British accent; Francois, and his family members. As Philip and Francois mature, they are also learning fighting tactics, becoming strong young men, and meet new people. 

They begin engaging in battles to defend the Huguenot people. At other times, though, the Catholics are hunting them. Sometimes they hide. Sometimes they flee. Eventually, though, the conflict is unavoidable. The ultimate battle that occurs in the story is known, historically, as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. The battles and preparations leading up to this last stand of the Protestants is engaging, and the final battle is compelling and sobering.

I never like to covey enough information that the reader feels I've given spoilers, so I will stop there. Suffice it to say that I encourage you to consider investing in this audio drama.

What I love about materials by G.A. Henty is the way he focuses on historical events that have become obscure and isolated to us through the passage of time, and by creating an engaging narrative he draws us into an adventure that we care about and learn from. The plight of the French Huguenots of the 16th Century is something we should not allow to be forgotten in obscurity any more than we would want the plight of the Jews in World War II to be forgotten. Remember the saying, "Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it." 

Heirloom Audio creates dramatizations of G.A. Henty adventures, featuring talented actors, such as those shown below:

Sound effects combined with skilled acting draws the listener into the gripping adventure. I loved St. Bartholomew's Eve, as I have loved the other Heirloom Audio adventures I have listened to. Filled with realism, historic events are conveyed that can be upsetting. In this adventure Philip befriends a young lad who later loses his leg while doing his part as the Huguenots defend themselves against the Catholic attackers. Later the one-legged lad is still fighting in conflicts, endangering himself for the cause. This type of story content is realistic but upsetting to my daughter, who has a tender heart. Because these adventures contain content that can be upsetting to some, I do encourage you to listen to the story first, without your children, so that you can determine which of your children you want to have listen to the adventure and at what age.

Other adventures by G.A. Henty that have been dramatized by Heirloom Audio that I have had the opportunity to hear:

• Under Drake's Flag (my review)
• In Freedom's Cause (my review)
• With Lee in Virginia (my review)
• The Dragon and the Raven (my review)
• Beric the Briton (my review)
• The Cat of Bubastes (my review)
• In the Reign of Terror (my review)
• Captain Bailey's Heir (my review)
• Wulf the Saxon (my review)

St. Bartholomew's Eve, produced by Heirloom Audio, once again upholds the high standards that Heirloom seeks to maintain in each of their audio adventure productions. I highly recommend this adventure to you.

But don't take just my word for it. Other members of the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew also reviewed St. Bartholomew's Eve, and you can read their reviews and see what other homeschool mom's think by clicking on the link below:

Brinkman Adventures Season 6: Underground Rising - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

My family has been enjoying Brinkman Adventures for years,  
so I was delighted when I learned we would be receiving Season 6: Underground Rising to review! 

Brinkman Adventures are audio adventures that center around the Brinkman family - a missionary family. The stories in Brinkman Adventures are based on real people, and are often based on actual events, although literary license is taken to add to the excitement.

In Season 6 there are six episodes, which gives your family over two hours of listening pleasure. Previous seasons had 12 adventures, which was amazing! However I was not disappointed with the content of the six episodes in this set! The six episodes included are:

• Dutch Underground, Part 1
• Dutch Underground, Part 2
• Twice Born Fly
• I Wonder Why
• Free Burma Rangers, Part 1, and
• Free Burma Rangers, Part 2

Dutch Underground, Parts 1 and 2, tell the story of the Brinkman children's Oma (grandmother) and Opa (grandfather, no longer alive). The children are visiting Oma, and she relates to the kids how she met and married their grandfather in Holland right during the war, World War II.  Oma and Opa lived in Holland when it was overthrown by the Germans. The religious freedoms of the Dutch were being squashed, and Oma and Opa were part of a group of Dutch who were resisting the oppression brought by German rule. There were many close calls, some imprisonment, and a lot of excitement in this story!

Twice Born Fly begins with Charlie watching a fly hatch from a pupa. He is so excited when it happens that he gasps in surprise, ...and with his inhale swallows the fly! That makes for a fun start to the story (but it may not have really happened). His father is able, later in the story, to use the fly's "second birth" as an allegory to explain Christian rebirth to Charlie.

I Wonder Why is a story that focuses on a different missionary family that the Brinkmans know, and how this family came to relocate to India. The children in the family have some difficulty adapting to this move, particularly as the orphanage they are ministering to is filled with (28) children who seem to be particularly mean and disobedient. As the story unfolds, God reveals the answers to "I wonder why..." that one of the missionary children was asking at the beginning of the episode.

Free Burma Rangers is a particularly gripping adventure. It begins with a missionary kid, who as a child attending boarding school is focused on wanting to grow up to be a soldier, and after that a missionary. The young man finishes boarding school, where he was not acting "like a missionary kid". He confesses to his dad that he has not been living the way he should, and he commits to change. He attends college at MIT, where he participates in Army ROTC, and after graduation joins "special ops", The Green Berets. After serving in this capacity for many years, he has met a woman that he wants to marry. She is not in agreement, and he continues to pursue her. He leaves the military and studies for the seminary, after which he goes into the ministry as a missionary, just like he said he would at one time as a child. Before he goes, though, the young woman, Karen, does come around and they get married. The story continues with his adventures as a missionary, and the group he is a part of called the Free Burma Rangers. The adventure eventually includes the Brinkmans, and the situations get very intense!

Some of the episodes in Season 6 suggest that children under the age of 10 should listen with their parents. I know that when my youngest was under the age of 10 it would not have been good for him to be listening to these alone. Some children have very tender hearts and need their parent(s) present to reassure them or to answer questions. These stories, based on real events, can be frightening. It is wise to be there to assure your children that they are not in this type of danger living where they do. (I say this assuming it is true. I guess I might actually have readers who live in places and situations that are just as dangerous. If this is your situation, then I guess you want to assure your child that we do not need to fear death if we are born again.)

I love Brinkman adventures! I received this product as a digital download. I was going to then burn the adventures to a CD, but it turned out I really wasn't going to be near a CD/MP3 player much during this review period. I thought I would load it to my cell phone, which involves iTunes, but I really haven't figured out how to use iTunes with my cell phone. (I know -- that's really sad. But it is true.) My husband made a suggestion that is what I finally ended up doing -- I emailed the digital product to myself, then opening the email on my phone I was able to listen to the episodes. They went to a Google drive or something, and then I could listen. I really need to get my daughter to teach me how to use iTunes...

If you love audio adventures, I really think you will like Brinkman Adventures, Season 6. I also learned recently that there is a radio station in Texas that airs Brinkman Adventures as a weekly show on their station. I'm going to try to figure out when it plans (EST), because I think I can tune into the station using Alexa or on my computer. I'd love to hear more episodes! I do not own them all.

The folks from Brinkman Adventures want to offer you, my reader,  a 10% discount for anything on their site. The code is FALL10 and is good for 10% off any of their products and is in effect from October 10th to October 31st. Go order now before you forget!

Other members of the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew also reviewed this set of Brinkman Adventures. If you would like to read more reviews of Brinkman Adventures, Season 6, please click on the link below. 

Books of the Bible At-a-Glance - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

At the end of the summer I learned I would have the opportunity to review an amazing product by a company called Teach Sunday School.
The product I received is Books of the Bible At-a-Glance.


I received this as a digital product. It includes 74 pages, which includes one page for each of the 66 books of the bible, with a cover page and introductory pages at the beginning.

When I received Bible At-a-Glance, my personal studies were in the book of John. Thinking it through, "Matthew", "Mark", "Luke", "John", I decided to print the first four books of the New Testament using double-sided print. I also needed a look at 3 John, so I printed that as well. I tried using color print, but my printer wasn't up to snuff, so I switched to black and white. I figured I would 3-hole punch the paper and start a 3-ring binder for my Books of the Bible At-A-Glance.

So that you can see what the printouts should look like, here is a snapshot of the John page from the PDF:

See how vibrant the colors should be? My printer is disappointing me greatly.

So now that you see the page for John, let me zoom in and highlight it for you section by section (larger, easier to see).

At the top of each page, the name of the Bible book is at the top. Next you see what number book it is in the Old or New Testament,


who the author is thought to be, when it is thought to have been written, and the time period it covers. John is thought to have been written 80-90 AD, but it is a history of the period from approximately 7 to 26 AD.

The next line reminds you that there are 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books, with a numeral 4 reminding you that John is book 4 in the New Testament. Each book has a "Claims to Fame" section. There is a reminder of famous stories included in the book, as well as the books "most famous verses".

The bottom of each page lists important points about the Bible book.

After working with John and 3 John, I worked in Philippians. I was getting into a groove. Then I was reading in Psalms, and I had forgotten Bible At-a-Glance was the entire Bible! I got excited all over again.

Not liking how my printer was working I decided to put my document PDF onto a thumb drive and head to Kinko's to get an estimate on printing and binding the product as a spiral.

Boy was I surprised at the price they wanted to charge. I scrapped the idea and headed home. I discussed it with my hubby. I'll just print out pages as I need them and go with my initial plan of having a printout in a 3-ring notebook that I build as I go along.

I can also just work from the PDF document, but I'm a real paper-in-hand (book-in-hand) kind of girl, so I like to have a print out. Eventually I will probably be highlighting sections and taking notes like I do in my Bible. That's hard to do on a PDF.

I am not a major theologian. I did not attend seminary. When I read my Bible and am curious about who wrote what or when it was written, I am not majorly concerned about exact accuracy, so I was not looking at that type of question as I was reviewing my Bible At-a-Glance, so I cannot speak to accuracy. All I can say is that for a lay-reader of the Bible this is a wonderful product. I found it incredibly helpful. I love it.

So consider adding this product to your collection of personal Bible study tools. Or, before you do that, maybe you want to read a few more reviews and see what other reviewers thought. Maybe someone else was/is "more objective" than I am or saw different perspectives that they brought out that might interest you. To read additional reviews of this product, click on the button below.