Posts for category ‘Product Reviews’

Miamiopia (pronounced “mee-yuh-mee-oh-pee-yuh” not “Miami-opia”) is a new virtual world just for kids. This site is totally FREE and totally educational to boot!

From the website:

The World of Miamiopia is where balloons go when they escape from the hands of a human. Once here, these balloons seek to improve themselves by learning as much as they can about the world around them. Each building in Miamiopia is filled with learning games.

Some of these games teach the little Miamiopians about math, others about dinosaurs, biology, animals, music, history, and many other topics. Miamiopians “learn to earn”. Each time they plan a learning game, they earn coins. These coins can be used to buy things in the shopping district.

New Miamiopians get to pick the color of their body, and also the type of eyes that they will sport. As they play learning games, they can use the coins they earn to purchase clothing, wigs, and other accessories.

After watching a rather lengthy introductory video, your child will get to create his or her character (a balloon), which consists of color choice and eye choice. Once in this virtual world, your child’s character will explore different areas of the world and play educational games to earn coins. After earning coins, they can buy “add-ons” such as wigs and clothing for your character.

Navigation of Miamiopia is relatively intuitive. There is a map, and your child will pick where he or she wants to go. There is a zoo, science lab and more.  Once your character enters a building, he or she will look for boxes.  Walk to the boxes, wait for it to open to display the name of the game.

The games are fun and it is very easy to get coins for later spending. We played the “Identi-cell” game, where we had to identify different parts of the cell. What was nice about this was that we got many chances to get the answer right. Not only that, they offered a link in the lower right-hand corner of the game to learn more.

The other game we tried was a counting game, where the “Count” would say a number and we clicked on it.  Each correct answer earned 1 coin, a bonus of 100 coins after answering 20 questions.  This game was definitely for the younger set, but we really had no way of telling until we clicked and read the description.

Since the site is still in “beta mode,” the number of places to visit is still limited, but there should be more coming within the next week or two.  Additionally, I did not notice an obvious “log out” button or link, making it difficult to use with multiple children.  Unlike other virtual-world sites, I did not notice any type of chat, mail or messaging system. While this may be developed after the beta version, I feel much safer knowing that my child isn’t communicating with someone we don’t know.

Kids will love this site because it will give them the freedom to explore the areas they are interested in and parents will love this site because its educational content. While I personally think that a quality educational resource can be used across multiple grade levels, those in the middle school set and above may not like this site, because of its overtly cartoon-ish appearance.

The Bottom Line:

Pros:

• FREE
• Easy to Navigate
• Wholesome, quality educational games
• Entertaining and encouraging

Cons:

• Still in beta mode, limited areas to explore
• No log out button or link
• Unable to gauge activity difficulty until playing

Final Verdict:

Despite the limitations in beta mode, this is a great, wholesome, supplement to homeschool and classroom-based learning.

This post was written by Christina S..  She is completing her 10th year of homeschooling and lives in Detroit with her husband, 2 daughters, cat, dog and turtle.

If you haven’t heard of the Homeschool Buyer’s Co-Op, now is a great time to check them out.  It’s Language Arts Month and not only are they offering great deals on Language Arts curriculum, but also a chance to win an Apple iPad.

The details of the contest are below.  Be sure to head over to their site to see the fantastic prices for group buys and qualifying purchases.

It’s LANGUAGE ARTS MONTH at the Co-op, and we are shining a spotlight on some of the best language arts products available to homeschoolers, featuring, of course, the BEST DEAL ON THE PLANET for each of them.

In order to draw attention to our outstanding line-up of language arts curriculum, this month we are giving members a chance, win an Apple iPad (the $499 version), Apple’s latest, hottest product.

In case you missed it, Apple’s iPad is the latest — and possible greatest — of the new generation of ebook readers. But it’s actually much, much more. But we’ll let you decide for yourself! Simply click here to go the Apple website for more information.

HOW CAN YOU WIN

• Purchase a qualifying Language Arts product (see below) before April 30, 2010, and you’ll get 10 chances to win. (10 chances per order, not per product).  Place two orders for qualifying products — get 20 chances to win!
• Do something that earns a SmartPoints award, and you get 1 chance to win.  For example, write a field trip review, and you get a chance to win.  Write two field trip reviews, you get 2 chances to win.  Publish a paragraph about the Co-op on your blog or website?  You get 1 chance to win.  And so on.

Every time you do something that earns you a chance to win, we put your name on a virtual piece of paper and drop it into a big virtual hat.  Then, on May 5th, we’ll draw a virual piece of paper from our digital hat and we’ll have our winner, to be announced in the first newsletter in May!

Wow!  What an exciting week!  In addition to the ClickSchooling Award of Excellence, we’ve been featured on the Freely Educate blog.  This blog is dedicated to finding and sharing the best FREE educational resources on the Internet.

“My favorite thing about the site is that planner. I have each student set up in the planner so that I can create a custom curriculum and assignments just for that child.”

Read more of the Freely Educate review here.

How Did We Go From 13 Colonies to 50 States?

Who Were the Native Americans?

Find Answers to These Questions and Learn More About Our Nation with This Fun Interactive.

The United States History Map is an interactive website where kids can learn about the geographic features, regions, and history of the United States. The site is broken down into five major sections: From Sea to Shining Sea, 50 States, Indians, Colonists, and The Nation Expands. Each section provides background information on the topic, an interactive, and a timed quiz.

Product Description: “Become a geography whiz as you learn how the United States was settled. Discover how the continent was irrevocably changed by European colonization, the events that caused the wholesale displacement and decimation of the land’s original inhabitants, and how the 50 states came to be formed.”

In addition to the U.S. history interactive, you can choose from other subject areas as well, which are located in the upper right corner of the site. You can pick from a list of subjects, including math, science, language, and additional history topics.

Uses: Use this interactive to teach or supplement a variety of history topics, as well as any other subject of your choosing. This particular interactive makes a great supplement for teaching children about the 13 Colonies and Native Americans. It’s also good for use with geography lessons relating to North America and the U.S. The use of interactives makes learning about history much more fun, especially with children. Rather than pouring through books and listening to drawn-out lectures (yawn), interactives allow children to take part in the lesson, bringing the topic at hand to life and making it more interesting.

Content and Safety: This site and its content was designed for upper elementary and middle school grades. However, all ages and grade levels can benefit from and gain a basic understanding of the United States and its history. The site requires Internet Explorer 5 (and higher) and Mozilla 5 (and higher) as well as the latest versions of Flash player.

Using the Product: I had the opportunity to explore this site and found it to be quite interesting—seems you’re never too old to learn (or re-learn). In the first section of the site, From Sea to Shining Sea, kids get a chance to learn how to read and interpret a map of the United States in order to understand its geography and how it has influenced our history. They will also be asked to identify major mountains, rivers, and oceans of North America.

The 50 States section focuses on the various regions and individual states. The other three sections focus on the original inhabitants of North America. Many distinct Indian tribes originally inhabited each of the regions that are now part of the country, and you can learn more about these various tribes in the Indian section of the site. Life for North American Indians began to change with the arrival of Europeans—or the Colonists, which kids will also learn about.

Under the Nations Expand section, kids will learn how the United States grew into the 50 states, expanding from the original 13 colonies. After reviewing interactive overviews in each section, you can test your skills by answering questions relating the U.S. history map in a series of timed quizzes, which will be scored and can be printed off for review. Check out my score and yes, I could use a bit more review!

Tutorial or Promotional Video of the Product: I did not find any specific tutorial for the site; however, once you get there, it is pretty much self-explanatory. You simply read through the sections following the “Next” link (or arrow) located on the bottom right side of each page.

Summary: I really enjoyed this interactive and look forward to checking out some of the other ones on the site. I think children will greatly benefit from the information, and the interactive lessons are good for holding their interest. Although much of this might already be familiar to older kids, they can still revisit and appreciate our history with this site. You may even learn something new, as I did.

This post was written by Nikki P., homeschool mom and Lesson Pathways contributor. You can find this original review of this product posted at ChoosyHomeschooler.

Kids Dinos is part of the Kids Know It network, a free educational resource for kids. On this site, your child can learn all about the age of dinosaurs in a fun, interactive environment. Kids Dinos allows your child to experience science, history and geography in a fun way, using hands-on activities and games, rather than relying solely on books, which makes learning more interesting.

Description of Product: “65 million years ago monstrous reptiles roamed freely across the Earth, only to mysteriously disappear. Read articles about dinosaurs, search the dino database, vote for your favorite types of dinosaurs, and play dinosaur games, on KidsDinos.com, our dinosaur website.”

Kids Dinos is part of the Kids Know It network, a free educational resource for kids. On this site, your child can learn all about the age of dinosaurs in a fun, interactive environment.

Homeschool Uses: This would be a great supplemental tool for teaching history/geography topics relating to the dinosaur age, from the individual time periods and where they lived to the different types of dinosaurs and what they ate. The flashcards, located in the Dinorize It section, make excellent study material as well. Here, your child can create a list of dinosaurs that he or she wants or needs to study.

Kids Dinos allows your child to experience history and geography in a fun way, using hands-on activities and games, rather than relying solely on books, which makes learning more interesting. Science lessons could also find their way here by studying meteors or using scientific inquiry skills to hypothesize what your child thinks may have happened to the dinosaurs.

Content and Safety: All the information on the Kids Dinos site has been thoroughly researched for both accuracy and appropriateness. I found nothing that would be deemed unsafe or inappropriate for children. In addition, there is nothing to sign up for and no registration required for using the site. No one asks for or uses any private information.

Using the Product: While exploring the Kids Dinos site, I found a neat interactive dinosaur map (located in the purple bar of the homepage) where you can click on areas of the map to learn more about the dinosaurs that were found in different places around the world. You can also click on the View Dinosaur Types to learn more about a specific type of dinosaur.

The Dinosaur Timeline allows you to choose the time period you would like to learn more about. In addition to these interesting tools, users can visit the Dino Data section to find information on all sorts of dinosaurs and interesting facts about them, including what a specific dinosaur may have eaten and how big it might have been. The site also includes a featured dinosaur on each page, and you can also vote for your favorite dinosaur on the Vote for Dinosaurs page. Finally, your child can play Dino Games or take part in other fun activities like classifying the dinosaurs, matching games, dinosaur hangman and more!

Tutorial or Promotional Video of the Product: While researching and exploring the Kids Dinos site, I did not come across any tutorials on using it. However, the site is fairly straight forward and does not take a genius to get around on it. All the activities, games, and other information are easy to comprehend.

Summary: I found the site easy to maneuver around and easy to understand, with kid-friendly information for younger viewers. While it’s aimed toward the elementary school-aged learner (K-5), those in grades 6-8 may also find the site both useful and interesting. Overall, it would definitely be worth a look. Let us know what you think.

This post was written by Nikki P., a Lesson Pathways contributor. This post was originally posted on the ChoosyHomeschooler blog.