TOS Review: The Presidential Game

My latest review for the TOS Review Crew was for The Presidential Game.  Within an hour of  the game arriving my 17 year old had the game open and reading through the directions.  Then with his sweet tea at his side we all sat down to see who would become the President of the United States of American.  My team won the first game!!! :~)

The Presidential Game is a fun way to learn how the electoral vote process works. It also helps the kids learn the geography of the United States.  The game is intended for ages 11 & up, I will say that is a good age range.  My 10 year old played and did well, but didn't understand the full process and my 6 year old got bored quickly and went to do something on his own.   It does make for a great family game as you play on teams, The Republicans and The Democrats.  The price is only $35.  

When playing the game you have options on how you want to take your turn.  You can either fundraise which will allow you to get California, Florida, Texas, or New York.  Also, with fundraising you will get a Political Card which may give a state or take one away just depending on which card you choose.  The other move option is Campaigning and you can choose any state to give your electoral votes.  The process by which the game follows is the number of weeks you choose to play.  You can pick between 1 to 30 weeks, 15 weeks takes about 30 minutes or so. Through out the game with strategy you can win or lose the different states.   Of course the winner is who ever has the 270 needed electoral votes need to be President.  

The game is very well made and will last a long time.  I very sturdy game board with very bright colors, 6 dice (3 red and 3 blue), 150 red chips and 150 blue chips, You also get 80 Political Cards that can help you or hurt you.  Here's an example 

"Your opponent is interviewed by ESPN but forgets who won the Super Bowl, even though it was his/her home team.  Pick up 4 votes to be used any way you like."

You also get 40 blank Political Cards to make up your own, 

"Your opponent forgot the first Saturday in May is the Kentucky Derby when he visited the state.  Pick up 3 votes to be used any way you like."

The game also comes with ample score sheets, but you also get access to their Web Map Calculator which really helps move the game along.  We really enjoyed keeping score on the website so we have only used the score pad once.  

If you can't tell I loved the game and ALL of my kids did too.  

TOS Review: PeopleKeys

Through the TOS Review Crew we were asked to review products for the PeopleKeys.  They have lots of products that can be used by teachers, administrators or employers.  They offer assessments in Personality Styles, Learning Styles and many others.  Some can be done online as well as in a workbook.  I could see where many of the titles would be very helpful in education, but I let my 15 year old daughter pick which one she wanted to use and she picked Personality Style Workbook  (for ages 13-adult). 

 The Personality Style Workbook uses the well known personality categories, DISC.  

D=Drive-Challenges

I=Influencing-Relationship

 S=Steadiness-Consistency 

C=Compliance-Constraints

$13 

Once we received the workbook off she went to discover her personality type.  After a brief explanation of different personality types and why it is important to know each of them she got started on a short questionnaire.  Once she finished the questionnaire she was instructed how to score it which gave her her personality style.  The workbook continues to give an overview of each style listing their; general characteristics, strengths, potential limitations, greatest fear, motivated by and ideal environment.  The most interesting pages cover the characteristics of each style.  They can read through their primary style.  It gives them “what others may admire about” them and “what could drive others crazy”.  We found that the questionnaire was right on with her personality.  It was actually amazing. 

At the end of the workbook you can list the different people you are close to and try and determine their primary personality style.  By doing this you can figure out the best way to communicate with them which will reduce tension or conflict and communicate more effectively.  

Using this product doesn't actually help us in our homeschool as a “curriculum,” but what it does do is help Sam see the best way to communicate with the people in her life.  Whether that is her parents, sibling, teammates, coaches, employers, etc. she can try to determine their primary personality style and understand them better.