Review: Download N Go - Chocolate Challenge

The kids and I just finished up a very yummy unit study. Who doesn't like chocolate? We are all big eaters of the sweet treat and this unit was just screaming at us to try it.


Chocolate Challenge is another great Download N Go unit from Amanda Bennett. I love that with each unit we have used, it is NOT the same as the others. Yes, we read books and do some similar activities but each unit has its own unique feature. This time we got to study about a different chocolatier each day and then had a chocolate tasting party to end the fun. This was even a unit my oldest, who is thirteen, wanted to participate in.

We started off the week looking at the history of chocolate, what country produces it and what kind of plant it comes from. We took the time to compare temperatures between countries and do some fun math with M&Ms.

On the second day, we studied more science and dove deeper into the production of chocolate. We also used our geography skills and studied the surrounding areas of where most chocolate is grown. We finished off this day using Hershey Kisses to practice math.

We found out more about four different kinds of chocolate on the third day. Yummy! The chocolatier for day 3 was one I had not thought of in that aspect. It may have to do with the fact that I hear his name mostly once a year around a holiday. The Hershey kisses were back as we practiced some subtracting today.

Day 4 was my favorite because we got to study about my favorite chocolatier, Ghirardelli. This guy has got the art of making wonderful chocolate down to an art. The kids were most excited that we were using bigger pieces of chocolate to study multiplication and fractions.

The last day continued our fun study of geography and chocolatiers and ended with a wonderful tasting party where we made graphs, weighed & measured chocolate, baked some yummy treats and finally sat down to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.


When you buy this unit, you will be able to instantly download and get started right away with all the yummy fun. Your students will have the opportunity to see videos, make graphs, study maps, play a game or two, use a time line and of course put all the information together into a lapbook.

Don't forget, Amanda Bennett includes links for more information, a suggested book list for each day of the week and even extra activities that you might fun to do with your family after completing the unit.

Please visit the Download N Go site to find out what others are saying about this unit. Download and Go is also have a great sale right now so don't forget to check that out.

*Disclaimer: I received this unit for free in exchanged for my honest opinion.

Review: Download N Go - Expedition Ireland

Our family just got back from another fun trip from across the ocean, Ireland.

Ireland is one of the places on the top of my list to visit so when the review team was asked to use this unit, I jumped at the chance. I love anything I can get my hands on about Ireland and I was hoping that my kids would enjoy the adventure too.

As you might have guessed, this was another great Download N Go unit by Amanda Bennett full of great links and activities that kept my kids' (ages 6 & 8) attention and even drew in my seventh grader because of the animals studied. I was even taken back to my childhood with the study of Irish Setters because I used to have two as a child.



This unit covered history, measurement, geography, reading, rituals, animals, legends and more all in just five days. There is so much included, you could easily stretch it out into more days if you like. We were able to accomplish our daily goals through the following objectives:

Day 1: Where on Earth Is Ireland?
Day 2: Some of the Special Places in Ireland
Day 3: A Bit of History
Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Ireland
Day 5: Fun and Games in Ireland

I was disappointed that our local library system did not have but one or two of the books Mrs. Bennett recommends but we did find others to substitute and quite a few films on the animals discussed.

Expedition Ireland would be a great unit to have to use if you are studying geography in your home. You can purchase the unit for instant download here for $7.95.

If you would like to see what others on the review team are saying about Expedition Ireland, then you can go over to our Blog Tour.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that Mrs. Bennett has developed and now has available 4-week unit studies for K-12. My family has already picked out a few they are interested in but the most popular is Auto Racing because we are huge Nascar fans. Where else can you buy a unit full of activities for 20 days for all ages for only $10.95? There are 19 titles available at this time.

Disclaimer: I received Expedition Ireland absolutely free in return for my honest review of the product. I received no other compensation for my review.

New Affiliate Program with Download N Go

I am now an affiliate with Download N Go. You can order through me here on my blog. I will add the link below each time I post about DNG.


Click here to visit Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett.

Review: Download N Go - George Washington

Our family just got done with a Download N Go unit study on George Washington. I think my son enjoyed this more than any of us because George was a general. Lil Man loves anything to do with the military.

Day 1: Who Was George Washington?
Day 2: People and Places in George Washington's Life
Day 3: The Accomplishments of George Washington
Day 4: Lessons to Learn From George Washington
Day 5: Remembering George Washington

Amanda Bennett did a great job with the research from birth to memorials after his death. We got to learn about his life growing up and beyond. Our activities included map work, fractions, coloring, cooking, reading, time lines and journals. It was a busy week and that was just a fraction of the activities we chose to do.



I really liked the suggested list of books in this unit. The selection had a wide variety of information that the kids and I all enjoyed. This unit does not have as many embedded videos as some of the other unit studies but it does not lack embedded links full of information. These links make it so easy to research our questions during the week.

I think my most favorite activity was part of the lapbook. The activity asked the children to think about what freedom meant to them and draw picture. I really did not think the six and eight year old understood but they blew me out of the water with their pictures. Lil Red drew a person giving a Bible to another person. This picture started a whole conversation about how some countries do not have the freedom we do to worship. Lil Man drew a picture of a Redcoat soldier and a Revolutionary soldier. The subject matter did not surprise me but the detail he put into the picture was by far one of his best.




Please go to the Download N Go Blog and read other reviews about the George Washington unit. I think this is one you will want for you own homeschool year.

Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this review.

Christmas Memories Day 17

On December 17th, we read these books:



This morning we went to our last Friday coop event of 2010. Today was our Fun Class/Show-n-Share Day. One of the moms organized a bartering/trading event for the kids which tied into their studies in history. The children were instructed to make goodies or clean out their toys and price item from $1-$5. Since my kids were at my parent's house, we did not have time to make anything for the fun class and we had already cleaned out the toys to donate to other needy resources. We did participate in the Show-n-Share though. Lil Man showed off a creation that he made with K'Nex and Lil Red showed off her lapbook about Astronomy and the sun.




This afternoon was Lil Red's dance class where the parents could come in and observe in the class. They showed us their jazz and tap dance and the costumes for each. I am not sure of the name of the song for tap but it is in a 50s style and they will be wearing a pink and black halter-type costume and cat-eye glasses. They are dancing to "All The Single Ladies" for jazz and will be wearing an all gold costume and have big rings on their fingers. Lil Red loves her dance class but I did notice we need to work on her skipping skills.

That evening, Legs babysat and I took the three little ones to Woolaroc for their Wonderland of Lights. We drove through the animal reserve but it was too dark to see any animals. The main buildings and grounds were covered in thousands of lights. We enjoyed a tractor pulled-wagon ride, observation tower and snacks. I also took some pictures inside the lodge of some of the animal trophies like a giraffe, elephant, rhino, alligator, etc.

G'Day Mate from Australia

Little Man, Little Red and I are having a great time in Australia. Ok, not really but we are having a great time learning more about the country. We are in the midst of another great Download N Go unit study. Do you know what lollies are or exactly what a wombat looks like?

Expedition Australia is a wonderful collection of geography, science and language. We have been labeling cities and other important locations on our map of Australia as well as learning a new word of the day and animal of the day.

The daily objectives are:

1. Where on Earth is Australia?
2. Some of the Special Places in Australia
3. A Bit of Australian History
4. Cool Things to Know About Australia
5. Fun and Games in Australia

We have achieved these daily goals through map work, reading some of the suggested books, drawing animals and land masses, and many other activities to numerous to mention. I think my favorite was that we had to compare time and temperature in our hometown to each daily Australian location. This tied in nicely with our math work on telling time. This unit follows suit with the other units we have completed. They have so many activities to do that our family has to pick and choose just so we can finish. I love that option and variety.

I highly recommend this unit to anyone that loves geography, Australia or just wants a change of pace in their normal school routine. If you want to read more opinions about this unit, go to the Blog Tour.

Download N Go is having a special right now on Expedition Australia through November 8th. You can get this unit for only $5.95 for an instant download and get started right away.

As another part of this adventure, Download N Go is giving away two Australia Maps. To enter the giveaway, you can go here. (TOS/DNG affiliates including the DNG Review Team and TOS Crew are not eligible.)

I hope to see you soon in the outback.

If you would like to find this and other great homeschooling products, please visit The Old Schoolhouse Store.

*I received this unit study free in return for my honest opinion. I was no other way compensated for my review*

Pizza Party

Our family was again blessed to have the chance to review another unit from Download N Go. You will want to read all the way down to the end for a sale announcement and another give away. Woo hoo!

This time we got to enjoy Pizza Party.

Each day we "traveled" to another part of Italy. While there, we learned about famous people such as Michelangelo and Vivaldi.

We also were able to include fractions, nutrition, art and an experiment or two.


For my 1st and 2nd grader I eliminated some of the writing and we did more verbal work. We also left out a few of the smaller activities due to time and age.

If your family likes to learn about new places or the way something is made, then I recommend this unit. I feel this unit had more hands-on activities than the previous one we reviewed and we still did not take part in all that was offered.

Please watch the slide show below and you can see some of our fun that my family had. When you run your mouse over the pictures, you will see the descriptions of each picture.

If you would like to read what other families thought about this unit, then you can find them all here.

Download and Go is having a sale on Pizza Party Saturday and Sunday, September 4th & 5th in celebration of National Pizza Day. The unit will be on sale for $5 so don't miss out. Visit the Pizza Party page to take advantage of the sale.

Download N Go has given me the opportunity to give a copy of this unit to another family. You can get one entry for each of the following...
1. Comment below. Please leave me an email in order for me to contact you if you win and to send the download.
2. Make a post on your blog and leave a comment on here with a link back to your post.
3. Post a link to this review on Facebook or Twitter and comment back here as well.

All entries (comments) must be posted by midnight, Saturday, September 11th. I will have one of my sweeties pull a name out of the hat the next day and announce the winner on here. Good luck!

Disclaimer: I received no compensation in exchange for my review of Pizza Party.

Roller Coasters

Our family has been blessed to be a part of a review team for Download N Go unit studies. I will be using these with Lil Man and Lil Red this year just as I would if I had bought them. I am also giving away one copy of this unit so read all the way to the end to find out how to get your name into the drawing.


Our first unit was Roller Coasters and we had a great time learning things like history, inventors, physics and safety.

The unit came as a download so we were able to print off the pages we wanted and leave the others alone. This is a big plus for me as I am always looking for a way to save a few pennies.

Our objectives for this unit were as follows:
Day 1. What is a Roller Coaster?
Day 2. The History of Roller Coasters
Day 3. People and Places of Roller Coasters
Day 4. Science Secrets of Roller Coasters and Rides
Day 5. Goodies and Gadgets of Roller Coasters

Each unit includes an extensive list of suggested books and videos that you can request from your library as well as instructions on how to assemble the mini-books into the folder to make the finished product. The units also include links each day to videos, maps, definitions, charts and other information that helps the student complete their daily work. I especially like the impeded links because it saved me a lot of time and I didn't have to search for good information all on my own.

My two students (1st & 2nd) that used the study really enjoyed the puzzles, word searches and others activities that got them involved. One thing my family didn't take advantage of was the suggested activities at the end of each day. These really gives the students more hands-on experience but we plan to do that with our next study.

I have shared some pictures of Lil Man and Lil Red working on their units and the completed lapbooks. This time we just used pocket folders to hold their work. At the end, we selected the pages they wanted to keep, finished assembling the mini-books and then attached it all in the pocket folders.




Here are the finished lapbooks (pictures courtesy of my 7th grader).





As I said before, I have been given one copy of Roller Coasters to give away to another deserving family. You can get one entry in the drawing by leaving me a comment on this blog. If you link this post on your own personal blog and let me know, you can get another entry. Also, if you post on Facebook, Tweet or any message board, please let me know and I will put your name in again. I will let my two year old draw the name on August 27th so I must have all comments/entries in by midnight on August 26th. Good luck!