The World's Story 1 review

 

 

The World's Story 1



 

 

 

 

The first thing I would like to say is I am a huge fan of Masterbooks!  The books give us a solid Biblical World View to teach our children.

 

First off, let me say the pictures and illustration in this book are amazing! This is the one thing that makes this book stand out for me and my bugs (my children). They love looking at all of the pictures in this book. Young and old alike!

 

In this book, each chapter begins with a "Start Here" section. It tells us what will be discussed in the chapter we are about to read and scripture to go along with it. It lets the reader kinda get an idea of what's coming up next!

 

The book also has what is called "Narration Breaks". This gives the reader time to discuss what has been previously talked about. I think this is a fabulous thing to have. I am able to see just how much my bugs are retaining and learning from the reading we are doing. It gives us a time to talk and ask questions. I really like this part of the book.

 

There are also little sections that are labeled "Read" where it gives us scripture to read and discuss. Another nice section is called "Connect". This section gives us a detailed look into history across the ages. All of these sections, in my opinion, are wonderful. I really like having places to stop and discuss things together instead of just reading to the end and not able to take out time to discuss or stop while reading and forgetting where to start back up. Maybe thats just me but it really helps having a designated place to stop and discuss things. I really feel like it helps everyone to learn and understand things better.

 

Lastly, I would highly recommend this book!!! We are still reading this, taking our time enjoying this fabulous book! From what we have read and studied and discussed, we are loving it! This is one of many excelllent resources from Masterbooks and New Leaf Publishing Group.  We have numerous titles and so far, they are all loved.

 

Go check all of the fabulous books, you won't be disappointed!

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  I received a digital copy of this book free in exchange for my honest opinion.

Vacation Bible School.......

First off... Thank you Family ChristianFamily Christian for sending us The Maker Fun Factory VBS kit.

Second, IT'S FABULOUS!!!!! Look at all of the stuff you get with the VBS Starter Kit!

We, as a family, look forward to VBS every year. We love planning and decorating for our VBS. Even though it's February, it's not to early to start planning for this fun occasion. It takes months to decide on what theme we will use, what crafts will be done, how we will decorate our rooms and how many workers we will need. That don't seem like a lot but, believe me, it's no small task!

We usually purchase some kind of starter kit for our VBS and I have to say this kit goes above and beyond what a starter kit consists of. I was very impressed with it!

I am also sharing two crafts that are included in this kit.

Here is Day 1, option 1: G. U. T. S. Y. Bears!

          It stands for " God's Unique Talented, Special You!"

Look how cute the little bear turned out!

This is the page in the Tinker Tots Preschool Craft &Play book. It gives you the supplies needed for the craft and directions on how to do the craft.

My 3 year old enjoyed the Day 2, Option 1 activity: Connect-A-Gears.

Each day gives you an example of something to say to the children while doing these activities. For example:

     Day 2, Option 1, Connect-A-Gears says: Today we're learning that God is for you. That means God is on your side, no matter what hard things you face. God helps us to be strong, and he builds us up! Let's see what we can build with these cool gears!

Cool huh? I think so too!

These are the little gears that came in the kit.

This is just a couple of examples of the fun crafts in this Maker Fun Factory VBS kit.. There are so many resources in this kit to plan a fabulous and successful VBS. A great place to start is the Ultimate Director Go-To guide that comes with this kit, shown below.

Are you ready to make you VBS an unforgettable experience for all the children at your church for VBS? If so, contact your local Family Christian to register for one of the VBS events. Here are the following dates:

     Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 8:30-10:00am

     Saturday, February 18, 2017 at 8:30-10:00am

     Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 7-8:30pm

The Maker Fun Factory VBS kit is available online at Family Christian here.

Disclaimer: I received this kit free from Family Christian for my 100% honest review. 

Answers Bible Curriculum for Kids

Well, it's that time of the year when everyone is putting out their school supplies and all us homeschool Mom and Dad's are deciding which curriculum we want to order for this upcoming school year! It's so exciting to decide which curriculum we are gonna use in our home each and every year!

Today I want to share with you an amazing company called Masterbooks. They have the most amazing curriculum. I had the pleasure of reviewing Answers for Kids Bible Curriculum and all I can say is WOW!! It's fabulous!!!

I am using this with my 7 and 9 year olds this year for bible. It is such an engaging curriculum and very easy for my bugs to understand. The lesson plans are very easy to use and provide very detailed explanations of each lesson along with scripture, memory verses, visuals and materials to use, Lesson Truths and preparation for your lessons.

It came with a Teacher Resource CD-ROM and also a song cd.

We are not even close to finishing this, so when we are completely through with this wonderful bible curriculum, I will be back for a full review on this including lots of pictures of my bugs learning and having fun with this!!!

I encourage you to go check out Masterbooks. I highly recommend them when deciding on which curriculum you want to use in your homeschool. We love MASTERBOOKS!!!!!

Talk to you later!!!

2014 December Fun Days and Holidays....

December is here! We can't hardly wait for this time of year. Twinkling lights, baking cookies, singing and listening to Christmas hymns, wrapping gifts, drinking hot cocoa.

We love so many things about December and have so many fun things planned this month. Maybe you could join in on some of the fun.

Stay tuned because we will have lots of pictures to share, great recipes, crafts and more! We are also doing Christmas reading in our bibles. I know I am a little late posting all of this but I will post our scripture we are reading soon.

Here are the holidays and fun days for the 1st 25 days of December.....


Day 1 -  Decorate the inside of our home for Christmas.

Day 2 -  More decorating, putting up the Christmas tree and making No-Bake Fudge. Will share the recipe.

Day 3 -  Make some yummy microwave caramels. Not to fond of cooking in the microwave but my stove is out of commission right now.

Day 4 -  National Cookie Day! We will be making No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal cookies. Will share the recipe.

Day 5 -  We will be making No Bake Pecan Coconut Cookies.

Day 6 -  Make balls out of chicken wire and Christmas lights for outdoor decorations and go see a Live Nativity.

Day 7 -  Cotton Candy Day!

Day 8 -  National Brownie Day! We are going to make Nutella ones.

Day 9 -  Christmas Card Day!

Day 10 - Make some No Bake Oreo Truffles and if we have enough time, maybe some chocolate covered oreos.

Day 11 - Celebrate National Hot Cocoa Day. Its really this coming Saturday.

Day 12 - Make a Christmas Tree Hand Canvas and some fingerpaint canvases.

Day 13 - Ice Cream Day!

Day 14 - Make homemade wrapping paper.

Day 15 - National Cupcake Day!

Day 16 - National Chocolate covered anything day!

Day 17 - Make photo ornaments for the grands!

Day 18 - Make cookie baskets for our Christmas cookies and our annual Van Express Ticket Day!

Day 19 - Christmas Party with friends!

Day 20 - Bake lots of Christmas cookies!

Day 21 - Winter Soltice!

Day 22 - Deliver gifts to the local hospital to the children that are sick.

Day 23 - National Chocolate Day tomorrow! Make something yummy!

Day 24 - Christmas Eve Boxes and bake Jesus a birthday cake!

Day 25 - Celebrate Jesus' birthday and drink some homemade eggnog. Yesterday was National Eggnog Day.




As you can see, we are planning on having some fun this month. Maybe you can check back and see some of the fun things we will be doing!

God Bless!

Roma Downey's Little Angels Prayers for Every Day Giveaway!

My family and I had the opportunity to take a look at a new book by Roma Downey entitled "ROMA DOWNEY'S LITTLE ANGELS PRAYERS FOR EVERY DAY.

This book features more than 50 rhyming prayers. The book has prayers for morning, prayers of praise, prayers of thanks, prayers for mealtimes, prayers for others, prayers for help, prayers for guidance, prayers for forgiveness, prayers of comfort and prayers for bedtime.
In this book, twins Alex and Zoe, go about their days, along with little angels, their guardians, teachers and companions. From waking in the morning to going to sleep at night, from thanking God for a meal to praying for His comfort when afraid, these little prayers help little ones to see that any moment, no matter what you are going through, is a good time to talk to God. It is the perfect way to teach children about prayer and the ways God cares for us each day. There are even bible verses scattered throughout this little book as well.


Here are a few sample prayers taken from this wonderful little book:

     Prayers for Morning.......

          Dear Lord,
          When the darkness goes away
          and the daylight shines so bright,
          I'll thank you for another day
          and for another night.
          Amen!


     Prayers for Mealtimes.......

          Dear Jesus,
          Thank you for this day.
          Thank you for our meals.
          Thank you for the way
          your glory makes us feel!
          Amen!


     Prayers for Bedtime.......

          Dear God,
          It's almost time for me to sleep,
          and now it's time to pray.
          Thank you, God, for all you do,
          and for this happy day.
          Amen!

Those are just a few of our favorites, The first day we received this book, I read each and every prayer to my 3 and 5 year old bugs while they were taking a bath. They listened so well to each and every prayer and wanted to read them over and over again.

I highly recommend this book. It has been such a blessing to us and gives the bugs such wonderful little prayers to pray each and every day!

Prayers for Every Day retails for $9.99. Go here and check it out!

You can also go to these places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IdealBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealRomaDowney
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0k6mgA8jAo

AND!!! One lucky homestead reader can win a FREE copy by leaving me a comment and a way for me to contact you if you are the winner. This giveaway ends in 7 days. I will use random.org to pick the winner.



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Schoolhouse Review: God's Great Convenant Old Testament, Book 1

We were so excited to start a new bible curriculum from Classic Academic Press.

 This is the first time we have ever used this company, and so far, we love it! They offer Greek, Spanish, Latin, Poetry, Logic, Bible and more.

The product we are reviewing is God's Great Covenant Old Testament, Teacher Edition, and MP3 audio files.

Student Workbook, $22.95

Teacher Edition, $24.95

 

The MP3 audio files are $9.95.

 

Book 1 begins with Genesis and goes through the book of Ruth. It has 32 chapters and 5 unit themes.

 

*Unit 1: In The Beginning...God's Power (Genesis 1-11)

 

*Unit 2: By The Patriarchs...God's Promises (Genesis 12-50)

 

*Unit 3: Out Of Egypt...God's Redemption (Exodus 1-34)

 

*Unit 4: Through The Wilderness...God's Provision (Exodus - Deuteronomy)

 

*Unit 5: In The Promised Land...God's Faithfulness (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Job)

 

In each weekly lesson you will have a memory verse, key facts and vocabulary, among other things. Each chapter has worksheets and a quiz.

 

Here is a sample chapter from their site:

Click Here!

 

The worksheets are wonderful. You have fill in the blank, true or false, circle the answers, finish the sentences and even puzzles. In the back of the student book is a glossary and very nice 3D black and white maps. We are having so much fun with curriculum. The bugs are always looking forward to their bible each day. Learning is so much fun when you have a wonderful curriculum to use like Classic Academic Press.

 

The teacher's book is great also. It has reduced copies of the student workbook which makes it easy for everyone to follow along. It also has an answer key and lots of notes that is very helpful for mom! I really like having a book to reference to so I can explain things more clearly without confusing my bugs. I often have to figure out the answers to questions and hope I'm right. With this teacher's book, the information is provided. I love it!

 

We are using this as a daily bible study.Here is a sample of a weekly schedule from their site.

 

What I liked about this curriculum is that it isn't just a bunch of watered-down bible stories, it's a solid-biblical teaching curriculum that teaches the bible. We are learning so much we didn't even know.

 

I think my favorite part is something called "Things to Remember". Each chapter has this section. For instance, in lesson 1, it tells us that "Ex nihilo" is a latin word that means "out of nothing" and "Elohim" is a plural Hebrew name of God that means "mighty, strong and majestic" or "the mighty God". We are learning so much.

 

I am so impressed with this program that I will be purchasing God's Great Covenant Old Testament, Book 2 which covers 1 Samuel to Malachi, after we finish book 1.

 

See what other crew members had to say.

 

Disclaimer: I received God's Great Covenant OT Book 1 for review, free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion and review. All opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

    

 





members

Book Review: With the Children on Sundays

With The Children On Sundays , from Grace & Truth Books is a family worship book, published in 1893, as a series of children's sermons and brought back to print in 1995. It is designed to be a weekly study for family worship or a Sunday School curriculum for children ages 5 to 11.

In this book, there is a ten page "Suggestions to Parents" that offers methods to help and make these lessons a success. It gives you 63 tips to play church and contains 52 little sermons.

How we used WITH THE CHILDREN ON SUNDAYS!

As I said before, this book is designed to be a weekly study for family worship but we have been enjoying ours as a daily bible lesson in our homeschool. Our first subject everyday is Bible, so I decided to try this book as our daily bible and it worked like a charm. We are thoroughly enjoying this book. The bugs never want me to stop with just one story.

In each story, the author tells you an object to use along side your lesson.  For example, the second story entitled The Worm In The Apple tells us to use a large perfect apple and a stunted, wormy one. This story teaches children how things on the inside is not always how it looks on the outside and how there is sin in our hearts and how it can eat its way out through our hearts into our lives like the worm in the apple.  In my opinion, using objects to enhance these lessons are a wonderful idea. The children are really interested in how the object fits into the story.

At the end of each chapter, there are questions that you can ask your children and start a discussion about the lesson. Each lesson is about 5 to 6 pages in length. The book is very vintage looking with wonderful pictures throughout. We are enjoying this book so much. It is full of wonderful, character building lessons.


With The Children On Sundays is a large paperback book that retails for $17.50.  Go to www.graceandtruthbooks.com and enjoy free shipping on orders over $49.

To see what other crew members have to say about this book and others reviewed, go here.

Disclaimer: For this review, I received the book With The Children On Sundays, free, in exchange for my honest opinions and review.

ABINGTON PRESS...DEEP BLUE KIDS BIBLE REVIEW

As a member of the Schoolhouse Review crew, we were blessed with a product from Abingdon Press to review. They began publishing a wide variety of high-caliber academic, professional, inspirational and life-affirming religious literature in the early 1920's. Abingdon Press has committed to providing the most effective religious publications available.

For this review, I received the Common English Deep Blue Kids Bible. It comes in 5 cover choices:

                    3-D Hardcover
                    Image-Flex Cover
                    DecoTone Midnight Splash
                    DecoTone White Splash
                    Imitation Leather in Burgundy

We received the "Image Flex" cover for our review. We really enjoy the flexibility and durability of this bible.

We as a family really enjoy reviewing and using all different kinds of bibles and bible translations. In our home, we mostly use the KJV(King James Version) and the NIV(New International Version). I was pleasantly surprised with this version. I feel children can understand this version quite well. We love our KJV bibles but often the bugs, and myself included, will not always understand what we have read or want to understand it more. With the CEB version, we would look up the same passage we read in the KJV and have a better understanding of the Word!

Here is a passage from Philippians 4:13 in the KJV bible: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Here is the same passage in the CEB version: I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.

So you can see how a child might understand the CEB version better. This bible is recommended for ages 7-12.

Some other features include:

                      4-color throughout
                      Presentation Page
                      In-text subject headings
                      Bible dictionary
                      Eight full color maps from National Geographic
                      9-point type

We loved the three little characters in this bible. The Deep Blue Crew includes Asia, Edgar and Kat. They will teach and help your children discover and explore the bible in a fun, exciting way.

One of the many features I enjoyed about this bible is at the beginning of each book of the bible. There are sections that include: things you'll discover, people you'll meet, places you'll go and words you'll remember. We recently studied about Esther and read many passages from the book of Esther. Under each of these headings, it tells us about the things we will discover in the book, people we will learn about, words we will remember and my favorite, places we will go. In the book of Esther, they refer to Persia and under this heading, it tells us that Persia is present-day Iran. Just another fun way to learn with this bible. So many things we are learning that we never knew before until now.

My family and I have really enjoyed this bible and look forward to using it everyday in our homeschool. Overall, I am very impressed with this little bible. In my opinion, this is a great study bible for all ages. I am seriously thinking about ordering the Learning To Use My Bible Class Pak and Teacher Guide.

To check out the Deep Blue Kids Bible, go to http://www.deepbluekidsbible.com.

The price for the Image-Flex cover bible is $26.99. You can go here to see resources, where to buy, videos and a sample of this bible.

You can also go here to purchase this lovely bible!


To see more reviews about the Deep Blue Kids Bible, visit the crew at the Schoolhouse website.

Disclaimer: As a member of TOS, I received this bible, free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Apologia: Who is My Neighbor? Review

http://www.apologia.com/

I had the pleasure to review Apologia: Who is My Neighbor? series. This is the newest book in their What We Believe Series. There are 3 books in the series:

                    'Who Is God?'

                    'Who Am I?'

                    'Who Is My Neighbor?'

Each book in the series is meant to stand on its own. You don't have to use the other books in the series to use Who Is My Neighbor?.

For the purpose of this review I received the student textbook, the notebooking journal and the coloring book for the series. The recommended age for this curriculum is 6 - 14 years old. The series can be used as a multi-grade curriculum which works very well for us. We are big fans of doing as much school together as possible.

              

The books have very nice pictures in them and the text is suitable for all ages, including adults. I am enjoying it as much as the bugs. An older student can read it themselves or to younger ones. The student textbook can be used alone. The notebooking journal and coloring book is not necessary, although we are enjoying all of them.

How we use it:

I have been reading aloud to my bugs and we are really enjoying this series. We are using this as our bible in school right now. Everyone has really been interested in the Chang family as they escape from China and flee to America. This series is about servanthood and how to teach how important it is to help each other.

There is a sample lesson plan in the textbook that is based on a schedule of 3 weeks per lesson, two days per week or a daily lesson plan in the journal. We are using the one in the journal although I have been spreading the reading out a little because I feel it works better to cover a little less material each day. Especially with little ones.

My thoughts:

I love this curriculum! The bugs and I are really enjoying the stories in this book. I really like the fact that I can use the curricula with all of my bugs even though I have a wide range of ages. I feel it is priced accordingly to the material it provides.

The accompanying notebook journal in my opinion is wonderful. It has room to answer questions, to use for copywork for bible verses and prayers and also numerous pages with crossword puzzles and word lists.

The coloring book is very nice and can be used by the younger children to reinforce the lessons. I use coloring sheets with my little bugs while I read aloud to my older ones. The coloring sheets are so nice and detailed in this book even my older ones wanted to color.

How to get the series:

Student Textbook: $39

Notebooking Journal: $24

Coloring Book: $8

Disclaimer: As a TOS crew member, I received Apologia: Who Is My Neighbor? series free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion and review!

Read more reviews at Schoolhouse Review Crew.