WORLD Watch -- my REVIEW

 Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew  

Where do you get your news? Do you listen to the radio or watch it on television? My family seems to get bits and pieces here and there, but this latest product is really helping us to stay current with the news. WORLD Watch is a short (around ten minutes) newscast online that we have been enjoying this past month. This is a paid subscription product, so families who wish to view their news through these videos will choose the length of time that they subscribe. 

Our family has been long-time fans of WORLD news group and we know that this company has delivered high quality Biblically sound news stories to our family through magazines for years now. It was no surprise that the news videos by them are of the same high quality, broad spectrum, and enjoyed by all.

I know that this is produced for teens or youth, but frankly, my husband is probably the largest fan of these newscasts in our family. He has not really been one to follow the news, but he has been making time (it's just ten minutes!) to watch these WORLD Watch news videos either on his lunchtime at work or else as soon as he gets home from work. He enjoys learning about what's going on in the world--and from a viewpoint that he does not have to question or beware of. 

My seventeen year old daughter and I have each been watching these newscasts as well (or sometimes just watching a news story). They are very professionally made and are engaging and interesting. The company is a Christian company and the stories are not something that you would want to cover over your child's eyes or plug their ears--they are appropriate yet share what is going on in the world. Now, just because they are Christian does not mean that this is religious news or focuses on Christianity--they just uphold standards of truth and appropriateness that may be appreciated by all.

There is a new newscast every week day and if you happen to miss one, you can go back and watch it--they do not just "disappear." There is a brief overview in the text below the video, and the stories are available even after their broadcast date. 

Most of the stories are those that dominate our society today--news of the world, news of our country, news of politics and more. There are focused stories as well to give you a taste of different parts of our world. 

If you visit their website, they currently have a deal going on where you can try this product for thirty days, which seems like a very generous thing to do--you should be able to decide if it is for you  and your family within thirty days!

So yes, we are big fans of this service. It is a paid service, so check out the costs along with checking out your free trial. Please click on the link below, as well, to read other homeschooling families' thoughts on WORLD Watch.

ACT Mom -- my REVIEW

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew  

Is your student thinking about college? If so, you have probably entered the world of college admissions standardized tests--the ACT and the SAT (well, now there's the CLT also!). I'm not sure about you, but when I was in high school, we just took one or the other, whichever one our college required, and we took it once. Well, nowadays, it is much more common for students to take both and even to take the tests multiple times, seeking to reach their desired scores. 

I know that my nieces and nephews who are in traditional schools have had classes in school to help with test prep--and there are many other classes that you can take, tutors and such, to help your child prepare for these tests. You  might ask why would a student try to raise their score on the tests? Well, personally speaking, my two children who are now in college have taken the tests multiple times in attempts to raise their scores to qualify for certain scholarships. Not being in a traditional school, my two older students did not take any test preparation courses. Now it's my youngest daughter's turn to be looking at colleges, and she did get a score that she has used to be accepted into her choice college--but she, again, wants to raise her score to qualify for a certain scholarship. She and I were both thrilled to have the opportunity to use and review a product called ACT Mom Online Class by ACT Mom.

So let me just jump right in here and say YESSSSSSSS! We love this product!!!

Okay, now to get back to the review :) 

The ACT Mom Online Class is a thorough test prep course for high school students. It has an online component (videos and resources) and a notebook of test questions in page protectors and a cool little set of a dry erase marker, a cloth for erasing, and sticky notes. 

In the videos, the instructor (yup, a mom!) speaks to students in a very encouraging way and walks them through what the problems are, what they mean, and how to come up with the correct answer for them!

She uses the same resources that the student has in front of them and the student can go right through an entire test, trying the questions and then listening to the explanations. The explanations are very clear, easy to understand, easy to follow. When it is a concept that your student is a bit foggy on, the explanations make it much more clear. 

The videos are short bits, easy to watch quickly and easy to watch several at a time, depending upon the speed with which you wish to move through the course. My daughter is going to re-take the ACT this fall and is planning to go through all of them (even the ones she has already viewed) again over the course of several weeks. There are sections paralleling each of the sections in the actual ACT--math, science (lots of graphs!), English, and reading. 

You might be thinking, well, isn't the test supposed to gauge their knowledge from a whole life of schooling? Yes, I suppose, but truthfully I don't think that is how it works nowadays. The ability to answer the test questions is what is being tested. This course is perfectly suited for that.

Here's what my daughter had to say about the course (she just turned 17) I liked this course a lot! Taking the ACT can be really daunting, with different sections, weird questions, and the stress. This course breaks it down, shows you the patterns of the test, and what to look out for. She provides practice tests and a binder, marker, etc. She is a down to earth instructor, who knows the ACT is hard, but shows how we can succeed at it. I really like this course and will keep using it before I take the ACT again!

I really love that this program is made by a mom, that she is totally professional (as is her site and products) and she is a real person--not a corporation--and not somebody that starts out by saying something like, "I'm so smart that I aced the ACT and I'll tell you how I did it." Instead, she shares that her own children took the test multiple times and she has developed this program to help teens to succeed. She does offer in-person sessions, but the online one is perfect for us as we are far away from where she is and my student can use it on her own timeline.

It's a great product. I highly recommend this ACT Mom Online Course . It is non-intimidating, very matter of fact, and the explanations are so helpful. I especially liked her handling of graphs and interpreting of them (that can be tough if you're not used to reading graphs!)

Please click on the link below to read about other families' thoughts about this product--and again--definitely check it out! We are so excited to see how this helps improve my daughter's score (she just has to raise it 2 points, I think)!