Our boys love games, and we are always looking for new ways to incorporate that into school. So, when I saw the Pitch-A-Story game, I knew that it was a game that we had to try. Pitch-A-Story is for ages 10 to 110 (although we allowed our 8 year old to play and he got a lot from it) which helps develop language arts skills. Two to 18 players can play at one time. You can play individually, or you can play in teams with two or three players per team.

The following are the pieces included in the Pitch-A-Story box: Quick Start Directions, Playing Board, 5 decks of Cards: Characters, Challenges, Settings, Friends or Foes, and Props, Spinner, 6 Playing Pieces, 1-Minute Timer, Tip Sheet for Reviewing Stories (read before playing), Scoring Pad, A Guide for Teachers, Parents and Youth Group Leaders: Enhancing Literacy and Learning through Storytelling.

The object of this game is to create and act out the best stories. You earn credits from the game board and review points from the other teams. The game has 5 decks of story-building cards, and these cards create a foundation for the story that the teams will tell. As a team makes their way around the game board, they land on spaces that require them to draw from the different decks of cards. After a team pitches their story, they receive the points from the area on the game board where they pitched the story from and the other teams. The reviewing teams use a basic guide to judge the acting team. The highest score each reviewing team can give is 5 points. The acting team can earn those 5 points by adhering to the following 5 guidelines:

• Making their Story-Building cards fit into their story
• Starting their story with an "attention grabber"
• Making you wonder what's going to happen next
• Creating a good ending
• Holding your attention with their presentation by acting using facial expressions, special voices, gestures, sounds, & actions.

The first team to 150 points or the team with the highest score in any time frame set by the group (i.e. 1 hour), wins the game. You can also add challenges to the game by playing it in the advance play mode where you pitch/act out your story in different genres such as Comedy, Tragedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Western, or Fairy-tale.

I played this game with my older children, and we really enjoyed it. We also loaned the game to another homeschooling family who played the game as a family. We did find that it would be much more fun with larger groups, but it was fun playing in smaller numbers as well. What the children didn't realize was they were learning while we played. They were learning how to tell stories, and oh the stories they came up with! They unveiled their bright imaginations while making up the stories and acting them out. Both of our families would recommend this game for homeschool use. It helps with story telling skills with an entertaining approach!

-- Product Review by Christi Gifford, Customer Service & Data Manager, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, April 2006