KinderBach

KinderBach is a music program for ages 3 to 7 that can be done in your home.  It's available as an online subscription, as an iPad or iPhone app, or on DVD.  I was given a 6 month subscription to review.  

I cannot play the piano.  I played the flute from the 6th grade through the 9th grade, but I have completely forgotten how to read music.  However, despite my lack of musical knowledge, I am convinced that learning to play an instrument is a wonderful way to engage and train the brain, and I think piano is a great instrument for learning to read music and learn music theory.  My older four sons are in piano lessons, and it's about time to start the youngest.  I was very happy to receive this product to review, and so was Nicholas.

KinderBach teaches piano through adorable cartoon characters.  Dodi the Donkey (pictured above), Frisco, Carlo the Caterpillar, Edward the Eagle, Felicity the Frog, Gracie the Gorilla, Alan the Alligator, and Bob the Bear (along with Ms. Karri, the founder and lesson instructor) will guide your young child through learning to play the piano.  In addition, Miss Diddle and Bruno will help teach your child to play different music note patterns on the piano, and the Beat Bug Brigaide will help your child learn rhythm.  In Bach Talk, your child will learn tips and techniques for making their own songs.

There are 6 levels, with 10 weeks of lessons in each level.  Each week is broken down into 4 short lessons.  The short lessons are wonderful because they keep the attention of a young child, but are long enough to teach the concept in a fun manner.  Throughout the lessons, the student is often moving around and interacting with the lesson (beating a homemade drum, for example, to work on rhythm).

Each lesson is in video format.  Ms. Karri teaches your child the fundamentals of playing the piano.  She's energetic and entertaining, and Nicholas really enjoyed the lessons.

In addition to the online lessons, there are PDF worksheets to download and print.  You can print out the entire book for each lesson, or you there is an option to print individual pages for each lesson.  These range from coloring and activity pages to do along with the lessons to music to practice with.  The activity pages were a little bit young for Nicholas, and he doesn't really enjoy coloring, so we skipped doing many of them. I can see where they would be very helpful with a younger student, though.

 

  

KinderBach is a hit with Nicholas.  We've only had our subscription for 6 weeks, and I already see a huge improvement with his ability to keep a rhythm.  He loves to practice the piano like his older brothers.  He asks daily if we can do a lesson, and often tries to talk me into doing additional lessons.  I'm happy that he's getting exposure and developing a love for making music before we start more formal lessons.

To use this program, it's best if you have a keyboard to play.  You don't need anything fancy, just a basic piano or keyboard is recommended.  You'll also need basic craft supplies.

The online program is priced at $19.99 a month (billed monthly) or $95.88 for a full twelve months, and you can try the first two weeks of the program for free.  The iPad app is $26.99, and there is a free version to try the program out.

For more reviews of KinderBach (both the online subscription and the app), go here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Week 5 in Review

We got a lot accomplished on Monday, even though Luke slept late because he wasn't feeling well and even though I ended up at the doctor for a sinus infection.

Tuesday was kind of a bust.  I had a nagging headache and sore throat all day, Jacob spent the morning in bed not feeling well and Micah slept late.  I did some Kinderbach lessons with Nicholas, and sent them outside to clean up the yard so I could mow it for (hopefully) the last time this season.

The headache and sore throat continued, and Wednesday wasn't great.  Oh, who am I kidding?!  Thursday wasn't great, either, and we ended up doing most of our work on Friday and Saturday.

We did accomplish some things, though, so here they are:

Luke & Ezekiel (8th & 7th):

• Finished Lesson 2 in Elementary Greek 2, and started Lesson 3
• Did Exercises 15-18 in Henle Latin
• Read 4 chapters in The Ancient Near Eastern World and completed the study sheets.  The lessons were on Hammurabi and Mesopotamia.
• Rewrote The Stag and His Reflection, and began the process of rewriting a fable of their choice.  I'm not even sure what they chose.
• Took the Lesson 6 test in Rod & Staff's Spelling 6.
• Reviewed the chapter 1 of Rod & Staff's English 7 and took a test.  
• Finished reading Gilgamesh.  We still need to discuss it.
• Watched session 1 of Teaching the Classics.
• Completed Lessons 7 and 8, Lab 4, and Quiz 2 in The Rainbow science.
• Luke finished Chapters 4-5 in Painless Algebra, and Ezekiel took a test and finished Lesson 41 in Saxon 8/7.

Jacob (5th):

• Finished Chapter 2 and started Chapter 3 in Latin for Children A.
• Read Chapters 7 and 8 in Shadow Hawk, and chapters 10-13 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• Sort of started Classical Writing Aesop B.  
• Completed Lessons 6 and 7 in Rod & Staff's English 5.
• Spent time on the Math Blaster app, did fact practice sheets for multiplication and division, and worked on flashcards.
• Completed Chapters 4-6 in Life of Fred Farming.
• Worked on Math Mammoth's Introduction to Fractions and Place Value 3.
• Completed Lessons 9 and 10 in Rod and Staff's Arithmetic 5.
• Finished Lesson 3 in Rod & Staff's Spelling 5 and took the test.

Micah (3rd):

• Did 3 Callirobics lessons.
• Finished week 6 in Writing with Ease 2.
• Completed Lessons 9-12 in Rod & Staff's English 3.  He's doing really well with the diagramming (he had to diagram sentences with an understood you this week), and doesn't really complain about writing when he's diagramming.
• Read The Whipping Boy and chapters 10-13 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We did the comprehension questions from Veritas Press' Narnia Comprehension Guide orally with Jacob.
• Finished Lesson 3 and took the test in Rod & Staff's Spelling 3 and begane Lesson 4.
• Spent time on the Math Blaster app and with flashcards.
• Finished Kumon's Dollars and Cents workbook and happily threw it away.
• Completed Chapters 4-7 in Life of Fred Apples.
• Completed lessons 56 and 57 in Saxon 3 Math.

Nicholas (1st):

• Completed week 4 in Kinderbach.
• Did 3 Callirobics lessons.
• Completed Week 3 in Writing with Ease 1 and started Week 4.
• Read The Cat in the Hat.
• Read out of Phonics Pathways and Reading Pyramid.
• Finished Explode the Code 3 and threw it away.
• Finished Kumon' Easy Telling Time and threw it away.
• Did some Miquon Orange pages and spent time on the Math Blaster App and with flashcards.
• Completed Lessons 10-11 in Saxon 2.
• Began Primary Arts of Language Reading and Primary Arts of Language Writing.

Jacob, Micah, and Nicholas:

• Completed 3 more lesson in Dayspring's The Pilgrims Story.
• Completed lessons 16-18 in Veritas Press' Self-Paced Old Testament and Ancient Egypt online course.
• Completed the "Descendents of Noah" map from Map Trek.

There was also Judo, gymnastics, piano, and their enrichment program during the week.

My stack of papers to check is about 3 feet high.

/ow/

I couldn't figure out why Micah & Nicholas were in hysterics over a phonics notecard I'd made for Nick covering the one of the /ow/ sounds.

Then I took time to read the card.

Notice the blurred spot?  That's where a tear fell from Micah because he was laughing so hard.

Since Nicholas is the 5th boy I've taught to read, I can't even say it was a rookie mistake.

Beeyoutiful Mineral Makeup

If you know me, this will not come as a surprise.  I am not a girly-girl.  I don't enjoy spending time fixing my hair or applying makeup.  On the other hand, I feel these things are necessary for me to look my best.  My solution has been to simplify this process as much as possible.  I wash my hair, put product in it, and let it air dry.  For makeup, I like to quickly apply foundation, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara.  Just enough to give me some color and at least make it look like I attempted to get rid of the run-ragged-homeschool mom look.  Not surprisingly, I don't enjoy shopping for makeup either, so I was thrilled when the opportunity to review Beeyoutiful makeup came up.  It doesn't get any easier than makeup shipped right to your door!

For this review, Beeyoutiful Skin sent me:

• foundation ($25)
• foundation brush ($11)
• eye/lip color  ($10)
• multipurpose brush ($6.50)
• DVD (contained all of the how-to videos found here)
• Sample of a second eye/lip color 

Beeyoutiful created 100% mineral makeup that is all natural and gluten free.  I was a bit nervous about picking colors from my computer screen, but it worked out quite well.  I received samples of my top three foundation choices before I chose my final color.  The color I settled on was the first color I picked as a sample (samples are available for $1 each).  I'm very pleased with my foundation color, as well as the eye color.  

All of the Beeyoutiful makeup is in powder form.  It's so lightweight, I forget I'm wearing it, and it takes just a tiny bit for all over coverage.  The foundation brush feels like silk on my face when I'm applying the foundation.  I have dry skin thanks to living in a dry climate, so I use a moisturizer daily.  After I put on the moisturizer, I apply the foundation (Beeyoutiful suggests you use a toner, but I don't have any so I just used my regular moisturizer).  It does a great job of evening out my skin tone.  If there are any blemishes on your skin, you can also create concealer from the foundation to help cover them up.  

I've never used a mineral eye shadow before, but I have to say I love it.  I chose Cinnamon Sparkle, and apply it over my entire lid (it doesn't get any easier!).  Again, I'm shocked at how little it takes to do both eyes.  Just using the mineral shadow alone creates a very sheer look; you can also foil the shadow by mixing it with water.  This creates a bolder look with the shadow.  You can also use the shadow as an eye liner by using the foiling technique.

I don't normally wear anything on my lips.  For this review, though, I tested the second sample they sent as a lip color.  To apply as a lip color, you can mix the minerals with water or with a lip balm, depending on what kind of coverage you'd like (anything from a sheer lip gloss to a dark lipstick).  The thought of putting powder on my lips was odd to me, but once I did it and covered it with lip balm, I was quite pleased with the lip gloss effect.  

I'm hooked on this makeup.  It looks great, is easy to apply, and holds up through an exhausting day of being a homeschooling mom.  If you'd like to refresh your look, check out the products from Beeyoutiful.

For more reviews of Beeyoutiful products, go here.





Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Week 4 in Review

I've decided to try and blog what we accomplish each week.  We get to the end of the week, and I tend to focus on what we didn't do, instead of seeing what we did do.  I'll list it out this week since it's my first week, but hopefully it'll morph into something a bit more interesting over time as I find a groove.

Luke (8th) and Ezekiel (7th):

• Finished the last two lectures in How to Become a SuperStar Student from The Teaching Company.  This series was very worthwhile (wait for a sale if you buy it, though), and I think we'll watch it again over the summer.  The boys were at least exposed to ideas on how to organize their time, take notes, and study, among other things.  They enjoyed the series.  There is a 3rd CD with 6 lectures on it for parents, but I haven't watched it yet.
• Finished up the introduction in Art of Argument.  Studying logical fallacies during election season makes it almost too easy to find examples every day.
• Completed about half of chapter 2 in Elementary Greek 2.  I'm pretty hands off with this, but it looks like this chapter is a review of verbs from level 1.
• In Henle, we studied the 2nd declension masculine and neuter, and they took a quiz from the Mother of Divine Grace Henle syllabus.  We did more diagramming, which I think is a lot of fun.  They also spent a day on Lingua Latina Chapter 1, and completed a worksheet about the chapter.  This book and the worksheets are written completely in Latin, so they really have to think and apply what they're learning.  There wasn't too much grumbling, so I'll call it a success.
• Completed chapters 7 and 8  in The Ancient Near Eastern World.  This week they studied the story of Gilgamesh and Sargon (the king of Akkad).  We're using the study guides along with these books, so they completed the corresponding study sheets for these chapters.
• Read tablets VIII-IX in Gilgamesh, and we used the discussion questions from Omnibus I and discussed friendship, and compared the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu to the friendship of David and Jonathon from the Bible.  We're through Chapter 9 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We still need to discuss this, though.
• Finished chapter 6 in Rod & Staff's Spelling 6.
• Did lessons 6 and 7 in Rod & Staff's English 7 and read section 33 in Harvey's Elementary Grammar.
• Analyzed and began the Classical Writing steps (Theon's 6 components & six-sentence shuffle) for The Stag and His Reflection.
• Took Quiz 1 for The Rainbow science, and completed lessons 5 and 6, along with lab 3.  They studied curved motion, orbital motion, and wave motion.  They got a bit wet during the lab, which involved filling a cup on a string with water and spinning it in circles to see what happened.  
• Luke completed 3 chapters in Painless Algebra, and Ezekiel completed lessons 39 & 40 in Saxon 8/7.

Jacob (5th):

• Began chapter 2 in Latin for Children A
• Completed worksheets 4 & 5 from Rod & Staff's English 5.
• For math, he completed 4 pages of division practice and 2 pages of multiplication practice. He also completed chapters 2 and 3 in Life of Fred Farming.  We began Introduction to Fractions and Place Value 3 by Math Mammoth, and completed the first several pages in each of these books.  
• Took the chapter 2 test in Rod & Staff's Spelling 5, and did lesson 3.A.
• Read chapters 8 and 9 in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and chapters 4 and 5 in Shadow Hawk.

Micah (3rd):

• Completed 3 Callirobics lessons.
• Finished week 5 in Writing with Ease 2 and began week 6.  Since we're just doing it orally right now, it's going a lot more smoothly than it did last year.
• Did lessons 5, 6, 7 & 8 in Rod & Staff's English 3.  He diagrammed his first sentences this week!
• Read chapters 8 and 9 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and read chapters 10-16 in More Stories from Grandma's Attic.
• Finished the Kumon Telling Time workbook (and boy, did he rejoice!), and completed pages 57-68 in his Kumon Dollars and Cents workbook.  He also finished chapters 2 and 3 in Life of Fred Apples.  He took an assessment in Saxon Math 3 and completed lessons 55.
• In Rod & Staff's Spelling 3, he finished lesson 2 and took his test, and completed parts A and B for lesson 3.

Nicholas (1st):

• Worked through another week of Kinderbach music lessons.
• Completed 3 Callirobics lessons.
• Finished week 2 and did days 1 & 2 for week 3 in Writing with Ease 1.  
• Read to me daily from Phonics Pathways and Reading Pyramids.  Completed 4 pages a day in Explode the Code 3.  Read Little Bear and Put Me in the Zoo.
• Completed pages 53-60 in his Kumon Easy Telling Time workbook.  He also completed several pages from Miquon Orange.  In Saxon Math 2, we did lessons 7-9 and he took an assessment.

Jacob, Micah, and Nicholas:

• Completed 4 more lessons in Dayspring's The Pilgrims Story.  They learned about the Church of England and how the Pilgrims left England.  They also learned about the Principal of Liberty of Conscience and took a quiz.
• Completed Lessons 11-14 in the Veritas Press Self Paced Online Old Testament and Ancient Egypt course.  They're learning about Cain and Abel.

They all practiced piano regularly, attended their enrichment program, and had a gymnastics class.  We weren't able to go to Judo this week.

A Nick-ism

The boys recently got new shoes.  Nicholas wore his to church on Sunday, and while we were waiting for service to start, he requested that I "unloosen" them.

"Tighten them, you mean?," I asked.

"No, I don't want them tight.  I want them unloosened."

I guess there's a difference when you're 6.

2012/2013 Plans

We are three weeks into the new school year, so I figure I should post what we're using this year.  This is the first year that all the boys aren't using the same history and science, since Luke & Ezekiel needed to bump it up a notch in preparation for high school (how can it be that we're so close to high school?!?).  My mantra this year while I was planning was "Keep it Simple(er)".  The (er) is on there because I don't think schooling five can ever be simple.  I did a pretty good job not tacking on extra bits and pieces, and so far things seem to be going well.

Luke & Ezekiel (8th & 7th):

• Math:  Saxon:  Luke is partway through Algebra 1; Ezekiel is partway through Saxon 8/7.  They'll move on to the next books once they've finished these.
• Grammar:  Rod & Staff 7
• Spelling:  Rod & Staff 6
• Composition:  Classical Writing:  We're doing the Aesop & Homer in a Month course (though it will take us longer than a month).  When we finish that, we'll move along to Diogenes: Maxim
• Logic:  Art of Argument
• Greek:  Elementary Greek 2
• Latin:  Henle/Lingua Latina/Visual Latin:  Yes, it looks complicated, but it's really not.  My plan is to get through the first 7 units in Henle 1, and about 1/4 of the Lingua Latina book.  I just have the boys watch any corresponding Visual Latin lessons because they love Dwayne and he's a great teacher.  
• Literature/History/Theology:  Omnibus 1:  They aren't reading all the titles.  They'll be reading:

Gilgamesh
The Odyssey
The Last Days of Socrates
Julius Caesar
Plutarch's Lives (selections)
Chosen by God
The Holiness of God
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
The Screwtape Letters
The Chronicles of Narnia (all 7 books)

• History:  The World in Ancient Times series
• Science:  The Rainbow

Jacob (5th):

• Math:  Rod & Staff 5, Life of Fred
• Grammar:  Rod & Staff 5
• Spelling:  Rod & Staff 5
• Composition:  Writing with Skill 1
• Latin:  Latin for Children A
• Spanish:  PowerGlide Spanish 
• Literature:  I don't have a lot assigned for Jacob.  I want his focus to be on math and writing this year, and I didn't want to bog him down with a lot of reading.  It's his favorite part of school though, and he keeps asking for more books, so I might add some more fiction to the list.

The Chronicles of Narnia (all 7 books, using the Veritas Press Comprehension Guide orally)
Shadow Hawk
Tirzah
The Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt

• History:  Veritas Press Self-Paced Old Testament & Ancient Egypt course
• Science:  Magic School Bus kits with Micah & Nicholas.  These are really too easy for him--once I see how his days are really going, I might give him a different science to do.

Micah (3rd):

• Math:  Saxon:  finish up 3 and move to 5/4, Life of Fred
• Grammar:  Rod & Staff 3 (mostly orally)
• Spelling:  Rod & Staff 3
• Composition:  Writing with Ease 2 (mostly orally)
• Literature:  Micah hates (hates!) to write.  Last year we had battle after battle over anything that involved picking up a pencil and making marks on paper.  If you've met Micah, you might understand how exhausting these battles could be.  He loves to read, though, so I made a deal with him.  I would drastically cut the amount of writing he has to do and I'd assign him a lot of reading, as long as he didn't fight me on the bit of writing he'll have to do.  This is the list I have so far (many are from the Sonlight 4-5 Readers list):

The Chronicles of Narnia  (all 7 books, using the Veritas Press Comprehension Guide orally) 
Shadow Hawk
Tirzah
The Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt
More Stories from Grandma's Attic
The Whipping Boy
The Children of Noisy Village
Ralph S. Mouse
Encyclopedia Brown
Marco Polo
The King's Equal
Little House on Rocky Ridge
Socks
Misty of Chincoteague
Along Came a Dog
Toothpaste Millionaire

• History:  Veritas Press Self-Paced Old Testament & Ancient Egypt course with Jacob & Nicholas
• Science:  Magic School Bus kits with Jacob & Nicholas
• Penmanship:  Callirobics, moving into Draw Write Now

Nicholas (1st):

• Math:  Saxon 2, Miquon
• Phonics:  Explode the Code, Phonics Pathways, Reading Pathways
• Composition:  Writing with Ease 1
• Literature:  Again, this list is a work in progress.  I fully expect Nicholas to take off in reading this year, and I'm sure once he does he'll fly through these books and I'll need to add more.  These are from the Sonlight 1 Readers list.

The Best Trick
Green Eggs and Ham
Little Bear
Put Me in the Zoo
The Cat in the Hat
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
A Fly Went By
A Big Ball of String
The Bravest Dog Ever:  The True Story of Balto

• History:  Veritas Press Self-Paced Old Testament & Ancient Egypt course with Jacob & Nicholas
• Science:  Magic School Bus kits with Jacob & Micah
• Penmanship:  Callirobics, moving into Draw Write Now

All five boys are still taking Judo and recreational Tumbling and Trampoline gymnastics.  They're also still in a one day a week enrichment program.  The older four are taking piano, and we hope to start Nicholas this year at some point.  We're also still slowly reading through the remainder of the Sonlight H books (I read these aloud).

Speekee TV

Speekee is a Spanish course for young children (ages 2-10).  This review is of Speekee TV, which is an online, subscription based service.  The cost is $7.50/month, or $60/year.

Speekee TV includes 10 episodes, which is over 150 minutes of Spanish learning.  Episodes are centered around a central theme:

• El Parque
• El Cafe
• La Casa
• El Zoo
• La Clase
• El Mercado
• La Estacion
• La Playa
• El Jardin
• La Fiesta

Each episode is filmed using Spanish children, in a real Spanish location.  Speekee, pictured below, is a central character in the episodes.

The episodes are filmed entirely in Spanish, and make great use of songs and repetition to aid in learning.  In addition to access to the episodes and worksheets, a subscription includes access to FastTrack--Speekee TV lesson plans for homeschoolers, which utilize worksheets and printable flashcards.  You can sign up to receive one email a week for 40 weeks, and lesson plans and a link for the worksheets needed will be sent to your inbox.  It doesn't get much easier than that!

I used Speekee TV with Jacob (10), Micah (8), and Nicholas (6).  All three loved Speekee, and asked to watch it daily.  They learned some basic Spanish vocabulary, and had fun doing it.  Jacob is definitely on the upper end of the age range, and he rolled his eyes at some of the videos.  But he still enjoyed watching with his younger brothers.  The songs are catchy an really help reinforce the vocabulary being taught.

I think Speekee is probably best suited for the younger elementary student (PreK-2nd).  Even though Jacob watched along with Micah and Nicholas and enjoyed it, I probably would not purchase a subscription just for him--it really just felt too young and light for his age.  However, for the younger set I would absolutely check Speekee out; there is a 2 week free trial available so you have nothing to lose.

For more reviews of Speekee TV, go here.

 
Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are mine. 

I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

I first became aware of Apologia when I was looking for a science program.  They've since branched out into areas other than science, including worldview.  I've used their worldview program for younger kids (What we Believe), and was excited to get the opportunity to review the book I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist ($16) and corresponding I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist Workbook ($33), which is a high school worldview course.

My original thought was that I'd have Luke & Ezekiel read this book and work through the workbook, even though they are a little younger than the recommended age.  However, when I previewed the book, I realized that while they could read and comprehend much of the contents, that they would get more out of the course if I waited another couple of years until they're well into high school.  Instead, I began reading the book myself.

I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist does a fabulous job of taking the reader through the whys of their faith.  It begins with an argument for absolute truth, continues on with the arguments for God, explains why/how miracles are possible, covers the historical accuracy of the New Testament, details why Jesus is who he says he is, and finishes with why the Bible can be trusted as the Word of God (view the Table of Contents here).  The chapters are dense--they present logical arguments and scientific evidence to back up the claims presented, but readable--stories are interspersed that break up the heavy content and relate it to life situations (read a sample chapter here). 

The I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist Workbook is a terrific companion to the book.  Each section is broken down into four sections:

• "Hook":  reminds you what the chapter was about.
• "Book":  tests/reinforces what was read through comprehension questions.
• "Look":  takes the student deeper by have him research the topic on their own.
• "Took":  a summary of what was learned and application to daily life.

In addition, there are free downloadable chapter tests and downloadable answer keys for both the workbook and the tests with the purchase of the workbook.  You can view the Table of Contents for the workbook here, and a sample chapter here.

I'm looking forward to using this with my boys as they hit high school age.  I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist will challenge them to think through all they've been taught over the years.  I'd recommend this study to anyone, high school age through adult, who wants to challenge themselves to really think through why they believe what they believe. 

For more reviews of I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, go here.

Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are mine. 

Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener

It's a challenge of epic proportions, and it's been plaguing me for a couple of years.  What is it?  Finding a pencil sharpener that will suit the needs of our family, which includes 7 pencil users and 1 pencil eating dog.

We've tried several different brands and types of sharpeners.  Electric and manual, but all had annoying problems.  They were loud, they didn't sharpen the pencil to a good point, they didn't have an auto-stop so they oversharpened the pencil, the leads broke off in the sharpener and were hard to get out, they left half (or more) of the pencil lead covered with wood, the boys had trouble using them, and the list goes on.  When Craig's 1987 woodgrain Panasonic finally died, my search ramped up.  This sharpener was noisy, but at least it gave a decent point. 

Enter the Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener.  From the description, it sounded perfect.  I contacted Troy Decoff (a classroom teacher and the owner of Classroom Friendly Supplies), and he graciously sent me a sharpener to review.

It's better than I envisioned.:

• It sharpens to a fine point.  Every time.
• It never leaves wood behind to cover the pencil lead.
• If a lead breaks (rare), it is easy to remove the lead from the sharpener.
• It doesn't need to be mounted anywhere.
• Both the lefties and the righties in the house can use it.
• It's quiet.
• Everyone, from the 6 year old to the parents, can use it easily.

I do wish it was electric, but that's just my lazy side coming out.  In my defense, we sharpen a lot of pencils for school--they're often left within the reach of Jed (the dog) and he snacks on them, or they're left outside, or they simply disappear.

Priced at $24.99 (including shipping), this sharpener is a steal.  When the blades dull, replacement blades can be purchased (a set of 2 for $22.99).  Three colors are available:  blue, green, and red (there is also a very cute car shaped sharpener for only $19.99).  I was sent the blue sharpener to review, and have since purchased a green sharpener.  I'd love to purchase a red sharpener for the kitchen--the blue is upstairs and the green is in the basement--so that we have easy access to a great sharpener on each level.  The new school year is starting up, which makes it a perfect time to upgrade to this fabulous pencil sharpener.

Disclaimer:  I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are mine.