Vocal Coach~ At home voice lessons

 

My 12 year old has wanted voice lessons for some time.  A few things have held me back. I live in very small town.  No one that I know of teaches them here. I would have to consider traveling time and costs as well as the actual cost of lessons, both of which is out of my budget.  Along came Vocal Coach.

Vocal Coach Singer seemed like it was going to be the perfect solution.   At home voice lessons.  No traveling.  Priced at $119.99 for the physical version (which I received) or $99.99 for the downloadable version- easily transferred over to an MP3 player or such. 

The Vocal Coach Singer set came with:

7 professionally produced training CDs

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

4 workout CDs

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

A full-size instructional guidebook

1 CD with printable lead sheets (forgive my pictures)

 

Together these resources are valued to be the equivalent of more than $2000 worth of personal voice training lessons. 

Honestly my daughter was a pretty good singer (in my opinion) before Vocal Coach Singer.  It helps that she loves to sing and sings all the time.  Vocal Coach Singer has been amazing for fine tuning her voice.  It has taught her how to warm up before singing, what things she can do to protect and even help her voice. 

I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be personal enough for us. However, one of our favorite things is how the lead sheets help you evaluate and determine the areas you want to improve.  Then you can go to the correct CD and work on that area.  Vocal Coach Singer has been the perfect fit for our situation.

Vocal Coach even has a Homeschool Section. They also offer singing help for younger kids known as Teaching Kids to Sing, which some of the crew reviewed too.

Check out this post to find out what others thought of Vocal Coach Singer and Teaching Kids to Sing. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Disclosure: As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products, like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to share my honest opinion.  No other compensation is provided. 

 

Let’s go ahead and be honest, shall we?

 

 

 

 

I realized after writing a few posts, that I am extremely comfortable with myself and the fact that I homeschool, and you know what comes with comfort? Honesty. So while I may be judged for choosing to homeschool or the way I do it, or even the way I live my life,

I AM HAPPY

MY HUSBAND IS HAPPY

MY KIDS ARE HAPPY

Go ahead and judge me if you must. Here, let me give you some stuff.

You want to know some truths?

My 2nd grader does not read as well as the average 2nd grader.  I’m okay with that. We are working on it, but it is no reason for me to give up. 

My 3 year old can work the PS3 and Netflix and has been able to for quite some time now. 

My 6th grader and my 8th grader are almost at the same level in math. 

My 6th grader is a book worm.

The rest of my kids, not so much.

My kids fight.  My kids get along too.

My husband and I fight.  We get along too.

We sometimes make decisions we regret.  But, we learn from them.

My kids misbehave, heck, sometimes I misbehave.

We are Mormon, but not active.  And, we don’t really live the Mormon lifestyle.  But we are still Mormon.

I have a few guilty pleasures.  I love the Real Housewives of Anywhere.  I hide candy from everyone else and sneak it.

I was mostly soda free for 8 months.  I am now back on the sauce. (Pepsi)

Sometimes we have cereal for dinner, and Ramen noodles for breakfast.  (not very often, but it has happened.  Not on the same day, that I can remember.)

My house is never spotless, well except for that once every couple of months when I throw down the gauntlet and demand complete cleanliness.  That usually doesn’t come out of my mouth very nice, but I get my way.  Then I feel better. 

I am not perfect, and there are times when I don’t try my hardest to be. 

There you have it!  That’s who I am. 

 

 

The Bible Detective

Bible Detective is a search and find book that holds over 17 scenes from the Bible. 

 

Each Bible scene is full of great detail with interesting things to find.  The things you look for range from everyday life to specific details of the Bible story.

Each item comes with a little snippet about it. there is also a small story on the top of each page.

The retail price of this book is $14.99 and can be purchased directly from Kregel.

This would make a really great Christmas gift for children of all ages. 

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

These pages will have your kids searching and learning about the Bible over and over again.

 

 

Growing Up Wild

Have your kids ever dreamed of growing up wild? 

Do they want to “meet” other kids who are?

You can meet the Wild family, through their reality series Growing Up Wild.  This is not your typical as seen on T.V. reality show.  Growing Up Wild is a family with a mom and a dad, 4 boys (known as the Wild Brothers) who live in the remote jungles of Indonesia. They are full time missionaries helping to spread the word of God.

I would rather have my children experience someone else’s life if it was a realistic, positive and uplifting experience.  Wouldn’t you?

The Wild family would offers you and your family a unique chance to experience their life, their world, their passion.

Growing Up Wild is a series of 15 episodes over 5 volumes.  I was sent the 1st and the 4th volume to review. Something really neat about all of these volumes is that they come with an activity guide on cd-rom.

Volume 1 has 3 great episodes. In each of these episodes you learn what life is like for the Wild family in Papua, Indonesia.

 

Home Sweet Hut: You learn how they built their house using a combination of their American culture and the Wano culture. 

Supply Trip:  Living in a remote jungle means no grocery stores or way to get supplies.  Go on a supply trip with the Wild family.  See how the Wano people all come together to help. 

Sun & Water: See how the Wild family harnesses the usefulness of their surroundings.

Volume 4 taught us about the Wano cultural.  We were able to see how it differs from ours. 

 

 

You can purchase any volume for $18.99 each or purchase the set of 5 volumes for $80.99.

 

This is type of reality shows I want my family watching.  These videos are great for any age. I even enjoyed them. 

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Disclosure: As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products, like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to share my honest opinion.  No other compensation is provided. 

 

Reading Eggs Free for 2 Weeks.

 

 

Reading Eggs is a program that has been developed by a highly experienced team of teachers, educational writers, animators and web developers.  They focus on core reading curriculum; skills and strategies essential for sustained reading success and is suitable for children aged 3 through 12.   We have used Reading Eggs in the past. 

Since launching in the United States and Canada in 2011, Reading Eggs has signed on more than 500,000 subscribers and presented more than 15 million lessons in North America.

Guess What?  My readers are able receive Two-Weeks free with a trial offer. Register now for a free two-week trial of this online phonics program. No credit card required!!

Grace and Truth Boys Heritage

Grace & Truth Books is an online Christian bookstore.  Something that makes them unique is that they are family owned and ran.  They also publish books with old fashioned values and are not all about the trends. 

We received 2 books from their Boys Heritage collection.

Gerrit and His Dog $5.50 is a book in which the author is unknown and had previously been out of print.  Grace and Truth brought it back.  It is about a boy named Gerrit and his dog named Brownie.  Gerrit is being raised by his uncle.  Gerrit and Brownie get separated and do end up finding each other again. Throughout this story your child will see the hand of God and the blessings both Gerrit and Brownie receive through difficult times. 

There is a second story in the back of this book, The Royal Law.  This story helps your children to understand the commandment of Do Unto Others, as You Would Want Done Unto You. 

Tommy really enjoyed these stories.  He is very into old fashioned, good value type reading and this type of book is often hard to find.  

The second book we received was A Faithful Boys Influence $6.25.  “Aunt Friendly” is the author of this book.

In true Grace and Truth style this book has the same old fashioned, good, wholesome values as the other one we read.  This book is about a boy who visits his aunt and by example helps the townspeople to walk closer with The Lord.  The character qualities in the main character, Charlie, are some that I am grateful Tommy was able to read about.  He is a great example.

There is a second part in this book as well.  Ears for Little Gleaners.  Which is a collection of 19th Century Sunday School lessons.

Both of these books were easy enough reads for Tommy that he was able to enjoy them and understand them without to much frustration.  They were also a good length for him.  He doesn’t really enjoy novels. 

Grace and Truth Books sells all of their Heritage Series as a set, which is 9 books for $39.  These books range for boys ages 8-14.

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Disclosure: As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products, like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to share my honest opinion.  No other compensation is provided. 

 

Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

 

In case you were wondering there are less than 50 days until Christmas.  YIKES!  That time will be flying by quickly. 

Just in time Melissa & Doug have came out with their Terrific Twenty Holiday Gifts for 2012.

Check them out.  There is sure to be something for kids of all ages.

We already own a few Melissa and Doug toys in our family.  I appreciate the quality of the toys, in educational value as well as craftsmanship.

Would you like to win something from the Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty Holiday Gifts for 2012? 

Of course you would!  So head on over to their Facebook Page and enter to win something every day.

And for another opportunity enter right here on my blog.

You could win my favorite, The Big Rig Building Truck, just by commenting and telling me which item on the Top Twenty list is your favorite.  Don’t forget to leave me a way to contact you.

I would love for you to stay up to date with Family Style School by following me using one of the many options in the sidebar.  Thanks so much!  I truly appreciate each and every one of you that take the time to read my blog. 

Rules, Regulations and such:  The contest ends on November 16, 2012 at midnight MST.  This is for mailing addresses in the USA only. The winner will be contacted and will have 24 hours to respond or will forfeit and another winner chosen.  I will receive a Big Rig Building Truck in return for this post, as well as Melissa & Doug are the sponsors of the giveaway.