At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Review - TOS #hsreviews

Here at our house we have a variety of animals and would love to be self sufficient.  I recently was able to read(and now review) a great book about a family who did just that.  Franklin Sanders from At Home in Dogwood Mudhole writes a very easy to read and compelling book!  Well it's not just one book, it's actually a series of three books, but I only was able to read and review At Home in Dogwood Mudhole, the first book in the series.

The book is written for adults, but can easily be used as a read aloud with your children.  In fact, I plan to use it as our next read aloud once we finish the series we're currently reading.  There is nothing in it that would not be appropriate for children to hear, but young children would not be able to read it on their own, and I don't think most children would understand and comprehend quite as much out of the book as the adults will.  It can be purchased in paperback for $22.95 or Kindle version for $16.95.

Volume One: Nothing that Eats and Volume Two: Best Thing We Ever Did are both available, but Volume Three: The Sage of Dogwood Mudhole is not out yet.  We read Nothing that Eats and can't wait to see what happens next in Best Thing We Ever Did.  We received a paperback copy of Volume One to read.  I an read e-books but still love having a real solid book to hold and read.  Maybe I'm old fashioned, but to me it's just the best thing!

Oh and did I mention that Franklin likes the Civil War and that his family likes to reenact!?  Yeah!  As you know so do we.  And of course, I love the way he states about "War of Northern Aggression" and doesn't make it all out to be over slavery.  He's got his history right!  Maybe one of these days we can sit and chat around a campfire and talk.  Maybe we have. . .  or at least my husband, he's been at several events out East.   And to us here in the Midwest, where Franklin lives in Tennessee is definitely part of the "East"!

There are 25 photographs and maps within the book as well to help you really feel "at home" with them and make it so you can see where he is talking about and envision yourself there with him while he's doing such things.

The family is also a family of faith.  Relying on God is second nature with them and you can see this within every page of the book.  If you are not a believer or don't want to talk about God, then you probably won't enjoy this book as much as the rest of us.

The paperback I received is 379 pages long and broken up into four sections with each section containing roughly 25-27 chapters.  But they're not really chapters per say.  It's more like listening to someone else when you're carrying on a conversation.  They're telling you what's going on and you're listening interjecting your opinion every once in a while.  The whole book is in Franklin Sanders voice, but of course it's not all just about him!

This book is not a memoir written at the end of a life or the end of an age.  Franklin Sanders wrote a series of letters and compiled them into this book!  Pretty amazing.  Once a month for sixteen years he would write his letters to put in his monthly newsletter, The Moneychanger, and from those letters these books have emerged.  He then compiled them all together and had them published. . . or will have them published.  Two books are done and the third is coming soon(yes I know I've said that before, but I want to make sure you're really reading and not just skimming).  I'm hoping we can get the second book soon and continue the story.

I love the self sustainability, though I do have to laugh as we're one of those weird families that would take the freshly road killed deer and dress it out.  Really, venison is a great meat and my husband hunts every year so I giggled at that part and wondered why Franklin's son wasn't going to keep the deer and eat it himself.  But to each their own!

Make sure you check out the Main Crew Blog Post to see what everyone else thought of the book.  We all have different tastes in books and in life, so I'm sure they'll have their own spin to this review!

I just was told that you can get free shipping if you live in the US on up to two books with code TOSFREE!!!!  I don't know how long it will work but at this time it is working!

Pin It Now!

Carole P. Roman Book Reviews, Away We Go Media -TOS Crew #hsreviews

I love to read and try to instill that love into my kids.  We recently got a chance to further that love with a review of 4 books by Carole P Roman of Away We Go Media.  We received a series of four books that help kids travel around the world!  Exciting!

We received:

If You Were Me and Lived in . . . Mexico

If You Were Me and Lived in . . . South Korea

If You Were Me and Lived in . . . France

If You Were Me and Lived in . . . Norway

This is a series of four books that help introduce our children to cultures around the world.  I think the idea is fantastic and my kids loved studying where other kids live.  It would be very neat if this series were continued and contained many more countries.  Each book talks about what a child of that country would do, eat, how they speak, etc.  They highlight specifics such as important holidays and how they live as well.

These books are geared for preK through age 8.  My oldest is 8 and loved them.  She was able to read them for herself and only had some questions for words she didn't know.  I read them aloud to all of the children as well and even my little preK guys loved the books.  Of course, preK doesn't have the same comprehension and such that an 8 year old does, but any age will pick up things from these books especially if they are read more than once.

The books are reasonably priced as well.  Currently they can be purchased for $8.99 with a regular retail of $9.99 for paperback editions of France, Mexico, and South Korea.  Right now Norway(the newest in the series) is available for $8.62 with a regular retail of $11.99.

We received the softcover versions of the book which are 20-30 pages long and written in easy to read text for kids.  The last page contains a pronunciation guide for all those foreign words that we're learning.

Of the four books my kids favorite one was Norway, Land of the Midnight Sun.  I think because we had recently been reading about Norse people of old and this brought it closer a step.  They also have studied the legends of Santa around the world and one of our favorite depictions is the Santa of Norway.  I do feel the need to put here that we do not believe in Santa or use a Santa figure in our home, but we have studied them.

These books work great as little mini unit studies.  Look up the country on the map.  Draw pictures of the homes in the area.  We also made a supper of foods that children in that country would eat.  Lots of fun can also be had by letting your kids play games that children in that country might  play.  We also tried to learn to count to ten in the language of each country.

Carole P. Roman has also written other books besides this sweet series.  Such as a Captain No Beard which sounds like it would have all the kids full of giggles!

Want to learn more about these books?  Simply check out the rest of the Crew Reviews over at the Main Crew Blog Post.  We all reviewed the same 4 books but with different ages and different ideas I'm sure you'll get something different from each of us.

Pin It Now!

Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story Review, Barbour Publishing -TOS Crew #hsreviews

We are a house of readers and love to read!  If you go through my blog you'll see most of the reviews are for homeschool materials or books.  Well, this review is both!  We, with the Crew Review Team, were sent a book from Barbour Publishing to review.  This book was Diary of a Real Payne book 1: True Story by Annie Tipton.

This book is hilarious!  It's a great chapter book geared towards independent readers ages 8-12.  Now, my oldest 2 are both 8 but they're not really strong readers and I have several under that age that like to read also so we made this into a read aloud where my two 2nd graders and I took turns reading it to the younger kids.  Understandably, the kids liked it better when mommy read, but they listened when the older siblings read too.  It is my opinion that as a read aloud it can entertain all ages, but comprehension is lost at anyone under age 5.

This book is a steal really.  It  is available currently for $4.49 regularly $5.99.  The book is 192 pages long.  It has a larger print though we would classify it as medium around here.  My learners of course prefer the larger print but medium works well for my medium readers!

In March of 2014 they will be releasing book 2.  My kids are already wondering what happens to EJ Payne and what more she will have to share in her diary!  The next installation will be entitled Church Camp Chaos.  My kids have never been to church camp and are very curious about this one.

The book is definitely written in the voice of a child and it appeals to my children because of this.  They love the illustrations(and wish there were more of course) especially the pages that have lines and look like they came straight out of the diary pages.  Just as a little teaser, my kids are already asking if we can have some fun things for our Christmas dinner this year like ham loaf.  They have no idea what that is but because they read about it in the book they are ready to give it a try!  I think we'll have it some night for supper and reserve Christmas for Christmas.  I had to explain to them that we already do a non traditional meal at Christmas so they are already like EJ in that sense(we do a Mexican themed dinner with my family).  They loved the idea that they were like the girl in the book and immediately set about to think of more ways that they could say they were like her.

We had a laugh about her calling the town she lives in small as well.  It is over 1000 people bigger than both of the towns we've lived near in their lives.  We're small town people and my kids compared her population sign to the one we drive by and said she's from a "big city" well at least until we actually went to "the city" and then they said she lives in a "middle city"!  I love the way their minds think at times.  It's so fun and definitely not like the adult mind.

Now there are so many other parts from the book that we loved and the kids say I need to tell you, but that would ruin the book for you.  You really need to just get a copy and read it for yourself.  Maybe then you'll figure out what part in the Christmas pageant EJ gets and why it isn't her dream role and so much more!  Enjoy the book.  We did!

Make sure to hop on over to the Crew Review Main Blog post and see what everyone else has to say about this great book.  I love how we all can read the same thing and offer up so many different opinions of how well it works for us and our family.

Pin It Now!

Zondervan Homeschool Mom's Bible -TOS Review #hsreviews

 

I love reviewing with the TOS Crew.  I love it even more when they sneak in reviews for the mom's!  This is one such review.  Today I'm sharing about a Bible.  Yes that's right a Bible.  A Bible specially made for homeschool mom's who are short on time and patience and need to read the Bible probably more than others at that point to help us maintain sanity!  Okay, well maybe that's just me!

Zondervan has come out with a new Bible titled, The Homeschool Mom's Bible.  It is available in both NIV and KJV as well as an E-Bible.  It also comes in hardback or leather.  I received the hardback copy of the KJV Bible to review and am in bliss.  Loving this Bible.  I prefer hardcover to softcovers as the softcovers tear so easily it seems.  I'm not an E-Bible reader as I love the physical feel of books.  So this is perfect for me!

The KJV and NIV versions of the Homeschool Mom's Bible are $34.99 while the leather editions of both Bibles are $49.99 with the E-Bible costing $14.99.  Crew members received only the NIV and KJV Bibles to review but the other editions are available on the Zondervan website for purchase.

Mom's will be blessed when reading this Bible.  Not only does it contain the entire Bible in the selected version, but it also contains 365 devotions aimed directly at the homeschooling mom and what she deals with.  The devotions are meant to revive and restore as they help keep the focus for Mom, the teacher and mother.

 

 The devotions are written by Janet Tatman who also shares the distinction of being a former homeschool mother as well.  With over 25 years of homeschooling under her belt, these devotions are to help maintain the focus as well as help deal with the pressures of homeschooling while keeping up with the housework and other motherly/wifely duties.

A foreword by Vickie Harris also included.  Vickie is the wife of Michael Farris who founded the Homeschool Legal Defense Association as well as an author and homeschool mom.

This Bible, in whatever version, is specifically meant for the Homeschool Mom by Zondervan and one of the only ones out there to claim that title.  Since it is designed for homeschooling mom's there isn't an age limit per say, just anyone who is or is thinking or has been a homeschooling mom.  

I have enjoyed having this Bible to read and study with.  With school starting back up in our house lately I have been overwhelmed.  Well, it's kind of easy to overwhelm me in the first place, but this is worse.  I have two second graders, two first graders, two kindergarteners, and two preschoolers plus a 4 month old.  Oh and a house to run, allergy friendly food to prepare.  Yikes!  Can you see me pulling my hair out!  Anyway back on topic.  I had given up any hope of doing devotionals really for the first month or two(or the entire year) of school because I was meeting myself coming and going and just couldn't see where I'd fit it in.

So back to the Bible.  I am enjoying this because in the read the Bible in a year plan you get a devotional a day!  Yes that's right I get my daily Bible reading as well as my devotional all in one!  Woohoo!  I love multi-tasking and this one totally does not make me feel guilty!

I can very easily see this becoming my favorite Bible.  Well. . . . my main Bible.  The other Bible I have that is solely mine is an old one that I got for my high school graduation with my maiden name on it and it's a teen Bible in NIV.  I prefer KJV.  Not a huge deal but the little things are important too.  I love having a "grown up" Bible!

I am hoping to start a new Bible study soon as we're settling into a routine around our house, a weird crazy routine but a routine none the less, and I'm longing to start some of the study books I have sitting around the house.  School isn't just for kids.  Adults should do school too, but our school isn't all reading/writing/arithmetic like theirs is.  Our school is getting closer to God and living in His word, the only way to do that is to keep ourselves in it and study it.

What Bible study are you planning on starting next?  I picked up a copy of Desperate lately and am ready to dive in!  I'll share my journey with you if I can find the time(giggling about free/spare time here) and would love to hear if you're doing a study and what Bible you use.

I am highly recommending this Bible.  It is very down to Earth in the devotionals, and definitey pertains to the life of a homeschool mom.  Well, any mom really if you want to be truthful would like this Bible.  Check it out and decide if it's right for you.  Some randoms:  I love the cover on my Bible.  It really is a very nice design and artwork.  I also was surprised to note that the NIV has a different cover than the KJV so you can easily tell the versions apart if you are in a store purchasing them.

Make sure to stop by the Main Crew Blog Post and read everyone else's reviews as well.  Some were like me and reviewed the KJV and others received the NIV  but I'm sure we'll all have different perspectives and things that we loved/didn't love to tell you about.  Me, well I love the whole thing(or at least the amount I've read in the last few weeks) and have nothing bad to say about the Bible.  Maybe some day I'll come across something I don't agree with, but the great thing is that I don't have to agree with it all!

Pin It Now!

Seed Sowers Book Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

Recently through the TOS Crew Review team we got the chance to review a new book called Seed Sowers.  Seed Sowers is by Gwen Toliver and full of stories about going forth and planting the gospel.  You can find the book on the Seed Sowers website or for purchase on the Grace and Truth Books Site.  The book(softcover) retails for $13.95 normally but is currently on sale at the price of $12.50(this is current for this time and not for future reference, see original pricing).  You can also purchase a hardcover version($30.95) or ebook/kindle($3.99).

I first read this book to myself.  I wanted to know what I would be reading to my children.  Afterall, that is the reason of reviewing the book as a homeschool mom, to share with my children.  After reading it myself I decided that this would be the perfect new book for us to use as our evening reading.  We like to read a book while everyone is just finishing supper and before parting to do chores and start getting ready for bed.  I thought the topic of this book, going forth and spreading the seeds of the gospel so that all may know Christ, would be a good discussion one for this time.  We have previously read and discussed books such as the Chronicles of Narnia.

See above.  Isn't that an awesome picture!  Would you be able to cross a bridge like that?  The bridge being the only thing between you and that long drop to the waters below?  Oh my.  That might be very scary!  The fun thing though is that that bridge was not the only thing holding this man up as he spread the gospel.  I have a feeling there were angel wings right there with him the whole way and we're not just talking about his trip across this bridge!!

I should mention that while some of the stories tell you the true name of the missionaries it speaks of, others are false names to protect those still in service of the Lord.  So, you might want to read the entire chapter including the disclaimers at the end before you share.  I know I was reading one story and found it so wonderful and my children had thought to include them in our prayer time.  It said the names had been changed of course as they are still out there spreading the gospel.  So we prayed for them, not by name, but by location and that they may be protected as they continue their work.  It took a bit of explaining to get my kiddos to understand why we didn't have their real names and why we couldn't pray for them by name.  Now they understand how dangerous it can be to be a Christian in some countries.

These stories inspired me as to what people are willing to do for God and to what ends they will go to share His word so that no man may die in ignorance.  Of course, they also made me feel guilty.  Guilty that I don't do more to share the word.  Even here in our little piece of Midwest USA there are people who do not know God, people who need to know God!  We don't have to go to the ends of the Earth to share, we should start by sharing where we are.

We found this a great book and a great compilation of stories of the people who have gone to share.  My thanks to Gwen Toliver for writing and sharing these stories so that all may know.

This book can be enjoyed by the whole family as we have done.  It can be used for Bible credits for homeschooling, or for history/geography credits if you're finding and learning about the many places the missionaries went.  It can also just be used as a literature read alone for your 6th grade and up child.  We used it as a read aloud only.  Though I think once we get more into world geography we will use it again for that.

On an end note, please make sure you don't anger the wrong witch doctor, or run into a tribe of cannibals or race down the rapids, but if you do, know that God is with you and will see you through just as he did the Seed Sowers in this book.

Please stop by the main crew review page and read the reviews of other crew members.  I received a physical copy of this book for review but others also received ebooks as well.  Check out what everyone else got from the book as I'm sure we each picked up on something different.

Pin It Now!

A Child's Geography -Review and Giveaway #hsgeography

Recently we were asked to help promote a book launch by reviewing it.  This book was A Child's Geography which is the third volume in the series from Knowledge Quest.  A Child's Geography is geared towards grades 1-6 and priced at $34.95.  This third volume was written by Terri Johnson which is a different author than the previous two volumes.  I know some people might have been wary by that.  I've not used the other two volumes but I know that if you like one person's writing style you normally don't approve of changing that up, or at least I don't.  I'm kind of set in my ways.   

In this book your budding historian will be allowed to explore the classic world.  While exploring the classic world in geography/history, my children also explored other books to add to what they were learning.  This curriculum is full and complete in itself, but I'm a lover of unit studies so we incorporate our spelling, vocabulary, and reading all back into what we're learning.  I'd love to incorporate science in there too, but I'm a little behind when it comes to science and don't always know what would work well.  Maybe by the time I'm done homeschooling I'll have it all figured out! 

So to recap this counts as history, this counts as geography, add in some reading books associated with the time period and you have your reading, add in some vocabulary words to study and use that correlate, and add in spelling words and you have a nice study going on.  There are activities that go along with the curriculum as well.  This can either take you a year or a semester.  I tend to let my studies go longer when I can as some of my kiddos are slow learners so for us this is going to turn into a full year study.

I feel I should say here that this book is a full stand alone course in geography  and history so you don't have to add to it, I just prefer to add to it so that everything we are studying ties in together and my children learn the most and are fairly well immersed in their study.  I am not saying that everyone else has to do it that way.  The world would be very boring indeed if everyone was like me!

I had never actually heard of A Child's Geography before joining this launch though I had heard GREAT things about Knowledge Quest.  Knowledge Quest has several products that are on my homeschool wish list for when we can afford other things.  And now of course I have had to add the first two volumes of A Child's Geography to that growing exceedingly long list.

In this third volume there are 15 chapters, so if you do each chapter over the course of 2 weeks you have a 30 week course which equals out to roughly a years worth.  Our school year normally consists of 36 weeks so this means that I will have to find a few weeks worth at the end to fill in.  Most likely I will use that time to do reviews of what we have learned.  During these 15 chapters you visit 12 different countries and learn not only about the country physically but about what was going on in that country during this particular point in time.   

Here's a  bit of information from the website highlighting all that is included and the countries:

Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, San Marino, the Vatican and Malta - situated around the Mediterranean Sea with:
* the engaging text and vivid full-color photos of a “living book”
* narration prompts to cement learning and understanding
* notebooking, timeline and mapping activities for context
* helpful pronunciations and full definitions in glossary
* activities that focus on art, music, poetry and the delicious food of each country
* optional prayer walk for each country
* 224 page full color print book
* bonus content on CD-ROM


My kids of course are in love with the activities.  What child doesn't love to do hands on activities while learning(okay so maybe they don't realize that they're still learning).  And that of course is the most important piece when working with this age group, making learning fun.  Knowledge Quest has definitely succeeded with making learning fun in their 3rd Volume of A Child's Geography and we highly recommend it. 

Because we recommend it we're jumping at the chance to giveaway one free copy of the ebook version of this book!  Yeah!  Yeap so excited.  And in addition to that you can also enter to win in the Grand Prize Woohoo the book is finally Released Giveaway!  Please go HERE to enter in that giveaway with over $650 worth of prizes!

To enter to win the free ebook copy please leave me a comment below telling me how old your child is and what their favorite subject is.  Bonus points for following Knowledge Quest on Facebook and Twitter as well as following my blog on these sites.  Each entry requires a comment below.  Each comment will be assigned a number and random.org will choose the winning comment.  Make sure you either leave your email address or that I will be able to find it when clicking on your commenting name.

So here are you entry options:
1) Comment with how old your child is and their favorite subject.  I'd also love to know how you'd use the curriculum.
2)  Follow Knowledge Quest on Twitter
3) Follow Knowledge Quest on Facebook
4)  Follow me on Twitter
5)  Follow me on Facebook

Remember to leave a comment letting me know that you did each of the additional entries.

Giveaway is open worldwide for one free copy of the A Child's Geography Ebook.  I am not responsible for the shipment of the prize.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email before a new winner is chosen.  



Pin It Now!

Greene Bark Press Children's Book Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

 

Recently we were given the opportunity to review a children's book published by Greene Bark Press.  This book happens to be a super cute little board book for younger children entitled Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again and teaches children about safety.  The book retails for $8.50.

Obviously, being a board book this is geared towards younger children.  When I read the book to my kids I had all of my children sit down to hear it.  This spans from 3 months(I don't think she got anything out of it at all) all the way up to 8 years.  I think all of my children minus the infant actually could get something from this book.  Even though I always stress street safety with my kids, it never hurts to reiterate it just that one last time.  It might just save their lives one day.

 

Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again is written by Ginger Pate and illustrated by Rhett Pennell.  It contains cute little pictures to help grab children's attention.  It is geared for ages 3-8 which worked well with my school crew as the youngest preschooler will turn 3 in November and the oldest 2nd grader is 8.  This book focuses on Wally Waddlewater who wants to mail a birthday card to his Grandmother.  Now our mailbox is at the end of our driveway, and we live in the country, so my kids had questions about the large mailbox that many people put mail in as well as why he had to cross a street to get there.  My kids are of a curious nature and I have to satisfy them by answering their questions before they could settle down and listen to what the book was actually saying.

Once we'd answered such questions as why he had to cross the street all the way up to what day was his grandmother's birthday(not sure where these questions come from) it was time to read the story so we could understand why we need to stay safe and what staying safe entails.

I loved the simple way they told of street safety and why we must look both ways before and during crossing a street.  I do think that we'll have to read this book over and over again before it all sinks in to all of the kids, but for now at least I know that the older ones are going to at least have the knowledge at their fingertips that they should be looking both ways before crossing the street.

Want to see what other people thought of the Wally board book?  Simply hop on over to the Main Crew blog page and click on the links provided where you will see a list of all participating blogs!

Pin It Now!

Bible Study for All Ages Primary Level Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

Recently we were asked if we wanted to review a new curriculum to us called Bible Study for All Ages.  Of course, I love doing Bible studies with my kids and not just during school hours.  They are at a stage in their lives that they absorb this stuff like a sponge!  We received the Primary Level to review.

It was like Christmas opening our packet!  In it we found:

A 2 cd set of Children's Songs.  This contains 90 songs for children to learn and sing.  I have to say this cd did not stay for school only very long.  It now travels with us in our van as we love to listen to music or books on tape while driving.  The CD set can be purchased for $19.95.

A brochure/pamphlet showing us what else they offer to help teach and supplement their curriculum.  They really have a lot of neat stuff!

Teacher's Primary Level Study Guide.  We received the unit 1 section which is a quarter of the entire curriculum.  They currently have units 1 and 2 available for the primary level.  Unit 3 will be available spring 2014 while unit 4 won't be available until spring 2015.  When they are all done the entire curriculum will include 416 lessons.  The Teacher's guide for quarter one can be purchased for $9.95.

Three books of the student pages unit 1 which contains lessons 1-26.  Again this is the first quarter of the entire unit.  Each unit contains four quarters.  The entire of unit one contains lessons 1-104.  You can purchase the first quarter for $5.95.

Lastly we pulled out the Bible Book Summary Cards.  This is a big thick package that reminds me of a large size pack of construction paper!  These are study cards that ask questions while providing the answers to help your children learn and understand as well as remember what they are learning.  You can purchase these for $24.95.

You can purchase all materials together in either the basic primary starter pack ($99.82) or the premium primary starter pack ($145.68).  The difference is that the premium pack includes wall maps/time lines with the labels for them to do on their own.  This primary kit is perfect for your 1st-2nd graders though I think some kindergarteners might also do well in it.  As well as some third graders might still benefit from this level.  A lot depends on where they are.  My two first graders struggle with things and are behind a bit developmentally, they had a bit of trouble grasping some concepts while my 2nd graders really grasped and excelled in this.

We really enjoyed this curriculum.  It was easy to use, self explanatory, and I loved that I didn't have to spend hours preparing to teach it to my kids!  I just don't have those hours to start with these days!  It is not Genesis straight through the Bible to Revelations which I find refreshing!  Since we only received the first quarter to try, we wouldn't have hardly made it out of Genesis if they did it all chronologically!  Keep in mind to finish the entire Bible you'd have to use all four units and two of those aren't even available yet.  I am very glad we did not have to wait to meet Jesus until 2015.

Another thing I liked about the curriculum is that though they do use the NIV version in their program it was very easy for us to use our KJV editions or NKJV editions with our work.  It didn't confuse the children which is great.  Also, the curriculum did not seem to have a standpoint on some issues that might have proven controversial or made some churches not want to use it.  I think they have done a wonderful job of this.  I would definitely recommend this curriculum to other homeschoolers as well as churches for Sunday School programs.

I can definitely see myself buying the next few quarters and doing the complete Units 1 and 2 with my children as well as the other units as they become available.  Of course, the ones that used this quarter will be too old to use the last units and will have to explore different levels by then!

Interested in one of the other levels provided by Bible Study for All Ages?  Make sure to check out the Main Crew Blog Post to see what other Crew members thought of them!

Pin It Now!

Gryphon House Global Art Review -TOS #hsreviews

Do you like art?  Do your kids like art?  Well in answer to those questions. . . . I always HATED art class in school.  Really and truly hated those classes and wanted to get out of them.  Of course I couldn't do that, but I really was not good at art and knew it.  Now my daughter who is 8 loves art and wants to be an artist when she grows up.  What was I supposed to do?  There was nothing I could teach her at art, my best art was stick people!

Gryphon House to the rescue!  Gryphon House graciously let our family and other families of Crew Members review their Global Art book.  On the cover it is described as "Activities, Projects, and Inventions from around the world."

I loved that the book is divided up into chapters by continent.  Chapter 1 has all kinds of arts and crafts for the continent of Africa.  Within that chapter they are then broken up by country within the continent.  Each chapter is like this.  With each of the crafts there is a did you know section that tells you about the country and why that craft represents them. I loved this!  It's not just art but it's history and social studies all rolled into one!  Learning more than one thing while being fun is a homeschool mommy's dream!

From pinatas, to mobiles, to books, to masks, this book helps your child tour the continent and participate in parts of their culture while there.  My kids were in love and wanted to do more than one project per day.  Of course, I was a not nice mommy and only let them do one per day.  Like I said, I am not a craftsy artsy type person and needed time to recoup!

 

Global Art is written by two talented ladies.  MaryAnn F. Kohl, owner of Bright Ring Publishing, lives in Bellingham, WA.  Our other author is Jean Potter who is a full time writer living in Charleston, West Virginia.  The two of them also worked together to write Cooking Art and Science Arts.  Cooking Art was published by Gryphon House while Science Arts was through MaryAnn's publishing company.

We received a physical copy of the book.  Perfect way to have this book as you're going to want to mark it up!  The book sells for $16.95 in the USA.  It is designed for children in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade.  I was using this with kids ages 2-8 so preschool through 2nd grade.  While the older kids of course grasped the concepts better, the younger kids still had a fun time doing the crafts.  I think if you were buying this to use for a specific age I would say definitely wait until at least kindergarten.  It is a lot more teacher hands on if you're using with younger children and still a lot of helping with kindergarten age in my opinion from what happened in our house.

I do have to say that as a non artsy type person I loved that each of the crafts had step by step instructions so even I could understand them and help my children work through them.  Nothing was too detailed or intense that we couldn't figure them out.

If you'd like to see how other families used the Global Art book or the other review item please check into our Main Crew Blog Post to see how everyone else rates them.

Pin It Now!

Teaching the Classics (IEW) Review -TOS #hsreviews

If you're a homeschool parent or a public school teacher, this curriculum is still for you!  I was given a chance to review Teaching the Classics from IEW(Institute for Excellence in Writing) and want to share with you how it can help any type of teacher do a better job of teaching their students about books(I don't think they even have to be a classic).

Teaching the Classics came to me in the mail containing a book(workbook) and a 4 DVD set.  The DVD's contain 6 sessions.  I must say that I had misgivings about doing the DVD series as I hate listening to people teach in a monotone, or without any dynamic to them.  This series is not like that!  He really knows what he's talking about and how to draw you in and keep you interested and learning through the whole program.  The great thing about this program is that you can work at your own pace to complete it.  You don't have to do a full session at once or you can do more than one session at once. It is totally up to you, the student in this program and the teacher in your home!  The program is written by Adam and Missy Andrews.  The entire course costs $89.00 and can be purchased from their website.

I grew up loving to read and began reading the classics at an early age.  I remember being in the summer after 3rd grade and reading Jane Eyre.  I read it on my own just for the pleasure of reading!  I was shocked as I went through school that none of my English classes covered many of the classics and decided then and there that my children would learn them and love them!  Fast forward and I am now the proud mommy to 9 kids and we are in the beginning of our homeschool journey. I have children in second, first, and kindergarten this year and want to start them out reading right!

The best thing about Teaching the Classics is, as I mentioned before, that you don't have to only use it with the classics.  With my oldest only being 8 I'm not expecting her to start reading the great classics just yet.  So we're starting out with some classic children's books.  You can use this with the Little Golden Books, Beatrix Potter, or any other book you'd like!  That's what makes the program so unique and wonderful!

You will learn how to help your child dissect the story to get to the "bare bones" as well as figure out the conflict, resolution, and all the other parts that make the story. I have to say that diagramming a story was never something I loved. I loved to read the story but I really didn't have the time or patience to go back and dissect what I had just read!  Now, I have the knowledge of the right questions to ask to make sure my children understood the story and can diagram it without making them feel as bored as I did with these tasks!  That to me is worth much more than the cost of this program(yes I'm saying I would buy this program if it hadn't been available for me to review it).

This course can also be used by older students who may not have grasped the concepts already.  It teaches not only have to outline the key points of the story but what those key points actually mean. You don't just learn how to spot the conflict and resolution but what conflict and resolution are and how they add or detract from the story. I personally am in love with the list of Socratic questions to ask your child to help them better understand and learn from the story. I'm just not that wonderful at coming up with these meaningful questions on my own!

To recap: Teaching the Classics is a compilation of 4 DVDs and a workbook costing $89 to help you learn how to teach your children the classics using the Socratic approach.  You will be fully prepared to teach character, plot, conflict, resolution, theme, and all the other elements of literary analysis.

And last but not least my favorite part "Characters are the main link between the imaginary world and the author"  The best way to understand the author and what they wanted is to read the book and understand the characters.  Their strengths and weaknesses come through in how the author wrote them and we need to understand them to understand the world we've just entered by opening the book!  Yes I love to escape to new worlds through reading and I am hoping that with this course my children will as well through my teaching.

You can see what other TOS Crew members thought of Teaching the Classics as well as other IEW review products by visiting the Main Crew Blog page.

Pin It Now!

Schoolhouse Planners Review and Giveaway ends 7-13

As we get ready to start a new school year(our homeschool year runs from July-June) it's time to start planning and getting everything ready.  If you're like me you've tried quite a few planners over the years.  I  never seem to find one that I really like.   I want my planner to incorporate my daily life, the school life, our chores, etc.  I have always wanted to have everything in one place and not have 3 or 4 planners just to keep track of everything going on.

Well, now I have such a planner.  The Big Mama planner from Schoolhouse Teachers allows you to create your own pages and your own order so you can include everything you need for your family/school/home schedules!  With over 800 pages to choose from, you print and organize them where you want them.  There are also pages that you can add to or create your own.

I am enjoying creating my own planner this year.  I have already chosen the pages that I want to use for planning our school year by the week with each child having their own page.  I'm in love with the field trip/extracurricular sheets that I have picked out and the forms for the kids to fill our after each of these.  This is going to end up being a very big binder I am afraid!  The variety is what I find wonderful.  If I don't like a specific page I can find another that I do or simply go in and make my own.

There are 5 planners available total.  Winner will receive the Big Mama planner as well as their choice of one of the four other planners for students.  These other four are the high school planner, special learner planner, primary planner, and intermediate planner.  Here we should note that if you are a Schoolhouse Teachers member you have access to these planners all for FREE!!  Right now the cost to join is $3 for the first month with $12.95 per month afterwards.  Or you can choose to sign up for a year for $139.  With either option you get access to all 5 of these planners for free.  You can also choose to purchase the planners without joining and those are the prices that will be listed below!

All planners come in PDF format which makes it easy for you to customize and build your own planner.

Now for more about the individual planners:

1)  Big Mama Planner

cost- $39

800 pages to choose from

must have lists(ex. presidents, states and capitols)

family planning pages, transcripts

field trips, hour logs

chore charts, meal planning, grocery lists

helpful articles to help you get your year started off right

individualized child schedules per day or week

calendars

2) Special Learners Planner

cost- $29

help for homeschooling the child with special needs

task analysis cards to teach life skills

helpful articles

calendars

homeschool individualized IEP

food and behavior diaries

3) Primary Planner

cost- $9.95

articles written specially for primary students

grammar rules, story starters

math tables, animal classification chart

book and video logs, chore charts

field trip report sheets

Bible reading schedule

recipes for them to prepare themselves

4) Intermediate Planner

cost- $19.00

designed for middle schoolers

articles

planning sheets and calendars

financial records

goal recording

address book

Bible reading schedule

5) High School Planner

cost- $29.00

guide for planning the high school course of study

college checklist

articles and planning pages

logs for tracking community service, Bible reading hours, and much more!

To enter the giveaway you have several options.  None are mandatory though so feel free to do any or all!

Leave a comment on this post for each task you complete.  Make sure to leave a separate comment per entry so you get credit for them letting me know which task you did.  Must leave your email with the comment or I won't be able to email you if you are the winner!

1)  Like For Him and My Family on facebook
2)  Follow For Him and My Family on twitter
3)  Follow For Him and My Family on Pinterest
4)  Follow For Him and My Family on google +
5)  Follow For Him and My Family on GFC
6)  Which planner would you wish to use and why?

Giveaway open from July 6-13.  Winner will be notified on the 14th and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.  Winner will receive the Big Mama planner and their choice of the smaller planners.  I am not responsible for sending the planner to the winner, your information will be passed on and the planners sent to you from the sponsor.

Pin It Now!

Baker Publishing Group -Lily Lapp Books Review #hsreviews TOSCrew

You might have noticed if you read my blog much that I love to read!  I read as much as I can in my "spare" time.  I hope and pray that all my children learn to love reading as much as I do!  That is why we were all excited at getting to review a set of books from Baker Publishing Group.  I love to read Christian Amish fiction and have enjoyed the chance to read aloud the Lily Lapp books to my children.

The two books we received to review are Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily.  They are the first two books in a series focused on the life of Lily Lapp.  So far, there are two more books that come after these two in the series.  The series is written by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher.

This series of books is unique within Amish fiction in the fact that Mary Ann Kinsinger grew up Old Order Amish and left the church after she was married.  She knows first hand what growing up as an Amish girl is like and that gives a wonderful feel of reality to her books.  You really are learning what it is like to live as an Amish girl.  You really are getting a glimpse into the Amish world in these books!

The books are loosely based on parts of Mary Ann Kinsinger's life.  They are by no means an autobiography but do reflect what her childhood was like.  Mary Ann has also recorded events of her childhood on her blog titled A Joyful Chaos.

Life with Lily follows young Lily Lapp and her family as she turns school age, has a new baby brother, and begins to discover more about her life and what her role is. Set in upstate New York this story is charming!  Lily loves to have fun and tends to innocently get into trouble.  She loves school until a new teacher takes over who doesn't even seem to like teaching.  Available in paperback or ebook format this book sells $12.99 per book.  These books are geared towards ages 8-12 but my entire group of littles ones as well as myself loved them!

A New Home for Lily follows Lily and her family  as they move from New York to a new Amish community in Pennsylvania.  Lily is not excited for the move but enjoys new adventures and meeting new friends!  Also available in ebook or paperback for $12.99 and geared to ages 8-12.

I read these books to my children.  My oldest daughter who is 8 helped by reading a chapter at a time out loud to her siblings.  I would have had her read the entire books to them, but wanted her to have some fun listening too!  Plus I loved the books as well.  All of my children(well except for little Kierrah at 3 weeks now) were enthralled with the books and listened very well.  They now play as if they are Lily and her brothers plus friends(with 8 kids she doesn't have enough siblings)!  I enjoy seeing my children show me that they have comprehended and remember what they have read or listened too.  I think play acting is one of the best ways to show this in the littler children.

We loved these books and can't wait to purchase the next two in the series when they are available.  I love to read Amish fiction but had never thought that I would enjoy a children's book quite so much.  If you have children who are older than the 12 years I recommend that they still give this book a try.  Yes the language may be a bit more simple than they are used to, but I would say that they will still enjoy this story.

Read more reviews of the Lily Lapp books on our Main Blog for the TOS Crew reviews.  Fifty different homeschool families have been given the chance to read and review these books so I'm sure you'll find lots of information to help you decide if these books are something your family would like to read!

Pin It Now!

Christianity Cove Homeschool Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

The kids and I were all excited to try out one of our latest review opportunities.  We received two products to review from Christianity Cove!  In downloadable PDF form we received Bible Science Experiments and the 10 Commandments Activity Kit.

Christianity Cove has over 700 free Sunday School lessons on their blog and 26 resources that they sell online.  I know that we loved the two we reviewed and I can see how they would make a great Sunday School curriculum.  For us they made great unit studies for use this summer.  Make sure to like their facebook page for access to a free activity book!

I have been wanting to do a unit study with my kids on the 10 commandments, but wasn't sure where I wanted to start.  Well, I decided to start with this great little resource and then add some of my own to it as we go along.  I love the activities that come with it!

My kids thought that tracing their feet was awesome.  I guess I should explain that we were tracing our feet so that we could write the commandments on them.  They were a bit disappointed that they had to use one of my feet for one because we only have 9 children and there are 10 commandments!  Yes they even went so far as to ask when we were going to have another with our youngest, little Kierrah Jane, only being 2 weeks old!

The 10 Commandments Kit is designed for ages 4-10, but I do have to say that my two 2 year olds participated and enjoyed it as well.  It is a great resource for using in a Sunday School classroom or for a group of homeschoolers.  I had no problem using it just with my kids, but I also was using it with 8 kids at once!  Right now if you are among the first 250 people to buy this the price will be $27 otherwise the normal full price for this kit is $47.  Also, because they are so sure everyone will love this product they offer a full money back guarantee.  You have 2 months to use the product and decide if you love it or not.

The second course we reviewed was Bible Science Experiments.  It contains 25 experiments for young kids to do to help learn truths about God and the Bible.  If you order now it is only $25 for this great product. Normally it is $39.95.  It is also geared towards ages 4-10 but I would think you could use it with slightly older and younger children as well.  My two years olds were really impressed with the experiments, however, they did not always understand the concepts.  The older range of the age group will get the concepts more and get more out of the experiments.

My kids favorite experiment was on how rainbows are made.  We love rainbows and who doesn't want to create their own!  The verse that goes with this experiment is Genesis 9:13.  I love how each experiment has a verse and then a lesson to learn and how it applies to us and the Bible.  These are simple and easy for children to understand and hold onto.  This is the lesson

  "Without God, we’re just clear and shallow and boring. With just one drop of God, we’re 

colorful and dimensional—and fun to play with. "

Honestly, how can you not love something that is helping to instill proper values and knowledge as well as love of God into your children?  We love these two books that we were able to download.  They contain all you need to know to create the experiments or do the crafts/activities.  My kids are begging to redo some of the things and do more fun things such as this.  I have a feeling I will be looking into some of their other books just to keep my kids happy!

Want to read about some of the other great products from Christianity Cove?  Take a moment to head over to the Crew Main Blog Post and check on what other people thought of them!  It's a great read!

Pin It Now!

Knowledge Quest Sacagawea Review #hsreview TOS Crew

In our house reading and knowledge go together.  I would rather my children not read the book if it's not going to teach them something!  This is why I was excited for our family to be able to review Sacagawea ebook by Knowledge Quest.  Yes even the name of the company seems to go along with our philosophy of knowledge!  The best part of this ebook  that we were about to read was the fact that it contained links to help us learn!

A bit more about Knowledge Quest includes that it is the labor of love of a homeschooling family with 6 children who in 2001 began their business.  They were tired of not being able to find what they needed for teaching their children.  There were good products out there but nothing that covered all that they wanted it to.  At first they just made black and white maps for children to color and label as they were studying history(these sound great to me!).  They have now expanded into numerous books as well as apps for electronic devices and now even a class to teach parents how to homeschool!  I for one am glad that this busy family had the time to undertake this adventure.

Now onto our thoughts on reading the ebook about Sacagawea.  We don't have electronic devices that can "read" things in our house.  We're not that high tech yet I guess.  But we do have computers and this ebook could easily be read in PDF version off our computer.  This book(or series of books) is part of a greater set available through Knowledge Quest called Brave Explorers Every Child Should Know.

This book consists of four parts or sagas or even call them small books if you want to.  Whatever you call them, they're all worth reading.  We of course read them in order because that's just the way we are!

Sacagawea is directed to children ages 10 and up.  The complete ebook(all four sagas) is now available on Amazon for $3.99 according to their Knowledge Quest website!  This is quite the deal.  It includes all four sagas titled in order from first to last:  Stolen, Passage, Survival, and Equal.  This is a great read aloud book for the family at only 112 pages or it would also make a great book for your child to read and report on when they were in the 4th grade or older area.  My oldest is only 8 but loved to have the book read to her!  We all of course crowded close to the computer to click on the links and see where they would take us to learn more about our history.

We started off by talking a bit about Lewis and Clark and their journey before we read this book.  We happen to live in Northwest MO and part of their trail is within minutes of us.  We drove along the trail as we talked about the journey they took.  I introduced them to the fact that there was a woman who helped to guide them and then we went home to read the book!  We read the first part, Stolen! and then took off a few hours to talk about it and draw some pictures to show what she went though.  Next came part 2, then 3, then 4, well we finished the entire book in two days!

It kept my kids attention really well which is a great thing for a book to do with 8 kids ages 2-8.  They were intrigued with her story and kept wanting to know what would happen next!  I love when my children are excited about school and really want to know what we are learning.  The great part is that this book helped them to learn and also to retain it!  We were talking about Lewis and Clark the other day and they were telling me all they remembered about Sacagawea.  They remembered all the key points which made me a proud mama and glad that we had been able to use this ebook.

A group of reviewers from our Crew Review Team were able to review both Sacagawea and the Timeline Builder App so make sure to hop on over to the Main Crew Blog Post to read these other reviews and find out what they thought about this book and the other App.

Pin It Now!