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!!!

Curriculum Review: History Revealed: True Tales Set- Volume 1-3

History Revealed: True Tales Set is a multi-cd set that teaches the truth about history from the creation point of view. It was written by Diana Waring, a "history evangelist" that has been teaching history and education since 1990.

This multi-cd set spans the time from the Genesis account of creation through the ancient cultures and even reveals recent discoveries on these amazing times. These cd's are told in a storyteller's enthusiastic manner and is very entertaining to listen to.

This set was originally developed for use with the History Revealed curriculum. We haven't used it in that way as we don't own the History revealed homeschool curriculum.

There are three volumes in this set.

Volume 1: Ancient Civilizations & The Bible contains captivating events and biographies from Creation to Christ

Volume 2: Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries contain captivating events and biographies from Resurrection to Revolution.

Volume 3: World Empires, World Missions, World Wars contain captivating events and biographies from Napoleon to Korea.

We used these CD's for road-schooling. When we had errands to run, groceries to buy and eye appointments to go to, we would pop a cd into our cd player in our van and listen to these as long as we were riding! I really enjoyed them and really liked the fact that we could still be learning away from home.

I highly recommend this audio series!!! If this is something that interests you and would like to try it in your homeschool, CLICK HERE. 


I received this History Revealed: True Tales Set by Diana Waring from Masterbooks in exchange for my honest review.

Rocky Top Country Christmas CD

This CD is filled with 44 minutes of the most beautiful blue grass music I think I have ever heard. Country, Instrumental, and Holiday all come together with instrumentation from Fiddle, String Bass, Hammered Dulcimer, Dobro,  Autoharp and Mandolin. It is such a joy to listen to.

My kids and I love to listen to all different kinds of music while we are riding in our van, so when this came up for review from Family Christian, I jumped at the opportunity! I am so thankful I was chosen to do this review. As soon as it came in the mail, we popped it into our cd player and took a drive. We enjoyed this so much! We listened to the whole thing and decided to not listen to anymore until Christmas. We don't like to listen to Christmas music until the month of December. So you can imagine how anxious we are to get to listen to this wonderful cd again in about another week. We can't wait!!!

Here is the list of songs on the cd:

JOY TO THE WORLD

GOOD KING WENCESLAS

IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

MARY'S LITTLE BOY CHILD

WHITE CHRISTMAS

WINTER WONDERLAND

JINGLE BELLS

ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH

THE WASSAIL SONG

THE FIRST NOEL

O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

O CHRISTMAS TREE

Doesn't that sound like an awesome line up of songs to listen to the whole month of December!

If you love this kind of music, then head over to Family Christian and grab you a copy of this fabulous CD, Rocky Top Country Christmas. You won't be disappointed!

Also, Like Family Christian on Facebook.

Disclaimer: As a Family Christian blogger, I had the opportunity to review this CD in exchange for an honest review and a gift certificate.

Big Book of Earth & Sky Review.....

The Big Book of Earth & Sky is a 15 foot chart showing the inner and outer atmosphere, published by Masterbooks, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group. The book is recommended for children ages 7-12, however, I have six children that range from 18 years of age all the way down to 2 years of age and we are enjoying doing this  study all together.

The chart comes out of the book so you can unfold it to experience all the wonderful information to learn and enjoy!

This book is awesome! Each panel is so colorful and inviting. It has such detailed charts and graphs. We are learning so many things. There are all sorts of facts about oceans, mountains, weather, caves, deep-sea diving, the water cycle, just to name a few.

We highly recommend this book. There is also a Teacher Resource Guide for $5.59 that I recommend using when you are teaching out of this book. It has questions, activities and discussions on what you can do for each study. I downloaded a free preview off of their website that looks like this:

Be sure to Like Master Books Facebook page. Right now they are having a Book Clearance Sale going on. You can save up to 75%.



Disclaimer: I was given this book in exchange for my honest review of this product. No other compensation was given.

VeggieTales Super Comics Review

 

I received copies of the VeggieTales Super Comics from Family Christian along with an appreciation certificate for the purpose of this review.

 

 

 

Our family loves VeggieTales. We have been enjoying our dvd's for years along with all of their books.

 

When Family Christian started looking for bloggers to review the new VeggieTales Super Comics I got excited. I am always looking and buying these products to add to our collection of VeggieTales. So you can imagine how I felt when I got this opportunity!

 

 

 

Everyone in our big family, no matter the age, loves VeggieTales. But, I think my 6 year old and 8 year old enjoyed them the most.

 

 

 

The great thing about these comics is that my bugs (my children), I call all of them my bugs, know who the characters already are. We watch them so much that they know everything about each one.

 

 

 

We received both Volume 1 and Volume 2.

 

 

Volume 1 contains three stories; Dave and the Giant Pickle, Lyle the Kindly Viking and Larry Boy and the Prideosaurus.

 

Volume 2 contains three stories also; League of Incredible Vegetables, Larry Boy and the Reckless Ruckus and Josh and the Big Wall.

 

 

These are great little comic books. Very high quality in my opinion. The pages are beautiful.

 

Go check out these great VeggieTales Super Comics at Family Christian. These would be great for your own family or would make a wonderful gift for a VeggieTale lover!


God Bless!

Book Review: Home is where My People Are......

 

 

This book was provided by Family Christian for the purpose of this review.

 

 

 

About The Book.

 

Sophie Hudson takes readers on a delightfully quirky journey through the South, introducing them to an unforgettable cast of characters, places, and experiences. Along the way, she reflects on how God has used each of the stops along the road to impart timeless wisdom and spiritual truths. Nobody embodies the south like Sophie Hudson, and this nostalgic celebration of home is sure to make even those north of the Mason-Dixon Line long to settle on the front porch with a glass of sweet tea and reflect on all the people in our lives who-related or not-have come to represent home. (on the back of the book)

 

My Review Of This Book.

 

 



I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I was really excited about getting this review. I am so glad I did. It's a memoir and such a fun one. Sophie Hudson takes readers on a wonderful journey through the south. This book is full of humor. She shares her life story in the south during the 1970's through the 90's. She shares all her fond memories about her hair, her clothes, her music and movies and all the people and places she grew up in and around.

 

I love this book so much. I think it's because I am a Mississippi girl also and grew up in the same era. It's like I was her best friend growing up. I remember everything she talks about. I also loved how she reflects on how God uses each one of the stops along our paths for a purpose and how it molds and builds us and our lives into who and what we are.

 

The last few chapters in the book were my favorite. She was right on when she talked about home and what it means.

 

Great read. If you are wanting something fun and upbeat, grab this book, you won't be disappointed!

 

 

 

Disclaimer: As a Family Christian blogger, I had the opportunity to post this book review in exchange for a gift certificate.



Review: Christmas Comes To America

HOMESCHOOL LEGACY

 

 

 

Well, the month of December is just around the corner. Everyone knows what that means: Family, Food and the Christmas holiday! Our family loves Christmas. We first want to remember what Christmas is all about, the most important thing, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus! There is nothing like the joy of Christmas. During this time of the year, I like to make school fun. A month or so ago, I was contacted by Homeschool Legacy and given the opportunity to review their Once-A-Week Unit Study----Christmas Comes to America. I thought what a perfect opportunity to have tons of fun learning other Christmas traditions.

 

 

 

Once-A-Week Unit Studies are written for homeschool families, in my opinion, to make learning fun. Why Once-A-Week unit studies? There is no prep-time or work, easily incorporated into anyones schedule, very flexible and Biblically-centered, which is a big plus for our family. Once-A-Week means to do your unit study one day each week.

 

Christmas Comes to America focuses on the history of American Christmas traditions. This study shows one common thread among the cultures. Gift-Givers: Sinterklaas, Christkindl, Father Christmas, among others. These symbols represent the True Saint Nicholas.

 

I will give you an example of no prep-time or work. Each once-a-week study comes with a pick & choose read-alouds list for non-readers, optional books, videos and music list. There are books you read to go along with the study. Each week you are to read one of the books independently and one as a family read-aloud. There are four weeks in this study:

 

Week 1: The Dutch

Week 2: The English

Week 3: The Germans

Week 4: An American Christmas

 

Each week we learned the different names of the gift giver for each country. For example, the Germans have Christkindl (where we get Kris Kringle from) - Christ Child. There are so many activities in this unit study. From making and drinking hot cocoa and marshmallows to building a gingerbread house. We are having so much fun with this. I am looking forward to doing some of the activities we were unable to do. This is definitely  a unit study you don't want to miss!

 

This once-a-week study can be purchased at Homeschool Legacy for $17.95. Go get this study and have a fun Christmas Study for the month of December. They also offer other studies like the one our family used here while back entitled Lewis & Clark: From Sea to Shining Sea which we thoroughly enjoyed.

 



Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of the product in exchange for my honest opinion. All my opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC regulations.

TOS Review: Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura

As a child, I grew up reading Little House on the Prairie books and watching the TV shows. I loved it! I remember waiting for the show to come on TV everyday.

When I heard about an upcoming review about Almanzo and Laura from Legacy Documentaries, you can imagine how I felt. My bugs have all become fans of these books and shows, so when we had the opportunity to review one of two DVDs , we were ecstatic!!! We chose Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura.

Dean Butler is actually the executive producer, the actor who played Almanzo Wilder on the TV show. It tells the story of Farm Boy, one of the books in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series.

This documentary takes you back in time to Almanzo's childhood about his life in New York.

Almanzo Wilder was born in 1857 when America was in the Great Depression. He was raised to be a hard worker and was taught to do everything himself, not to depend or rely on anyone else. I really like how it focused on hard work and discipline. It also showed how much respect he had for his parents. These are traits that I think every parent wants to instill in their child/children. My husband and I work very hard everyday to instill these traits into our children.

This documentary touched on so many different topics. From how food was prepared back then, from whole foods not processed like today to Morgan horses.

We thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. We, as a family, watch many episodes of Little House on the Prairie that we have purchased on DVD. We also have the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder book series and in the near future, plan to do a Unit Study on the series. This DVD will just add more information and enjoyment to our DVD library and school studies.

Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura DVD sells for $21.95. It is 53 minutes long and is appropriate for all ages.

Go see what other crew members had to say about these awesome DVDs.

Circle Time Review!!!

As a Schoolhouse Review Crew member, I had the opportunity to review Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Homeschool Day, from Preschoolers and Peace.

This ebook I received is 33 pages and has so much insight, tips and ideas from other moms that have used it. Kendra, the author, discusses strageties for accomplishing things you want to get done during this time.

Introduction

Planning a Circle Time That Works for You

How to Get Your Kids on Board

Questions From Moms Like You

Words of Wisdom from other Moms who do Circle Time

Resources, Activities and Ideas

Printable Planner Sheets

This is a great book! Once I finished reading it, I was truly excited. It helped me with more ideas and how I could really improve our upcoming school year in a couple of weeks. We are almost ready to start our new year, so I was happy to have time to try this out. Well, I think it is something we will really enjoy and I am really excited to see how this will work for us. So far so good. I have to say I think since we started with this, it has become everyone's favorite part of the day.

One of the topics was having the older children teach and help out with certain topics. That gave me an idea. Since I will be giving birth to our sixth bug in about four weeks, I thought this would be perfect for the older two bugs. I am still trying to decide what I want them to be in charge of . I am sure with the help of this book, we can come up with something.

I really enjoyed this sweet, short read. This is a great resource for anyone with littles or just needs a little help.

This ebook sells for $4.99.

If you would like to see what other families are saying about Circle Time, head on over to the TOS Crew.

Couponing Made Simple.....Molly Crew Review

Are you one that wants to use coupons but really don't know how? I have the solution, Couponing Made Simple by Christi the Coupon Coach. The Molly Crew had the opportunity to review this product. Her books sells for $18.00 or $4.99 for the ebook.

Christi is a homeschooling mom of 4 and has been couponing for years. Her book teaches you how to use BOGO coupons (Buy One Get One Free), and how to "stack". This is what she calls successful couponing.

In her book, she shares a step-by-step process:

1. Buy Newspapers

2. Sort Newspapers

3. Find the Deals

4. Make Coupon Matches

5. Organize for Coupon Run

6. Shop and Save

7. Wrap Up at Home

8. Celebrate & Share

Here are the contents in her book:

1. Success Stories

2. A New Way to Shop

3. The Language of Couponing

4. Organization System

5. Step-by-Step Process

6. Tips & Tools

7. Couponing Ethics

8. Networking & Communicating

9. Bonus Section

10. Beyond Couponing

When the book arrived, I thought I would be overwhelmed by it but when I started reading it, I really enjoyed learning about the process which made it very simple to understand. She has so many ways of using coupons.

How it worked for me:

We live in a small town and the one newspaper that is available to buy has no coupons in it, not even on Sunday! So, I went online and found various websites where I could print coupons. After that, I went around town collecting all of the sales papers. When we put our minds and energy into this, we save anywhere from around $8 - $10 each shopping trip. That's not much compared to Christi but I am hoping to learn more and more each time and one day walk out saving 68%  or more like Christi.

My final thoughts:

If you want to learn how to coupon and don't have the time to figure it all out on your own, you may want to look into purchasing Chrisit's book. She has done all of the work for you! I am looking forward to learning more and more from her. I just scratched the surface!

I really like the best and last deal she says we will ever find. The deal of the universe----- SALVATION IN JESUS CHRIST!!!

Check out what other crew members had to say about Christi the Coupon Coach.

Moving Beyond the Page - Tornado and Amazing Weather - Schoolhouse Review

We received a Language Arts Study and a Science Study from Moving Beyond the Page. It is a literature-based curriculum. This curriculum works well for children that are hands-on learners. They sell complete curriculum and also individual units so you can pick and choose what studies you want to do.

We chose the Language Arts Unit Tornado and the Science Unit Amazing Weather. They can be used separately but are designed to be used together. These units are designed for ages 7-9 and include everything you need for a full study.

We received the physical book for Tornado. The set included the book, Tornado, How the Turtle Got It's Shell and the teachers guide.

The teachers guide is a spiral bound book with lesson plans and student worksheets for you children to work through as they read through the story. There are daily activities listed that you will do for that days lesson.

We received the online access for Amazing Weather. This unit includes the teacher guide (online), On The Same Day in March  
book and Weather and Climate - Geography Facts and Experiments book and a boiling point thermometer. For the student worksheets with the study, I would go online and print the pdf pages for each lesson. With the online access, you can print as much or as little of the pages as needed.

The printable online units seem like the more cost-effective way to go if you are wanting to use this curriculum with multiple students.

The physical unit for Tornado is $24.97 and there is also an online unit available.

The online unit for Amazing Weather is $29.91 and there is also a physical unit available.

Our Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed both of these units. They are really exciting. The teacher's guides are well laid out and easy to follow. All of the  bugs participated in these studies as much as they could. The were always excited to hear what would happen next in the Tornado book. I can see us using Moving Beyond the Page more often. I will be using the online version for our family for everything, that way, everyone can enjoy doing the worksheets. I highly recommendced this curriulum, especially for those who want full inclusive science, language arts or social studies.

Go see what other crew members has to say about Moving Beyond the Page.

Baker Publishing Group~~~Lily Lapp Books (Schoolhouse Review Crew)

If you and your family are looking for some wholesome, fun reading, then look no further! Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily, published through the Baker Publishing Group are just what you are looking for.

Members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew were asked to review these two wonderful books, the first two books in a series,  about a little girl growing up Old Order Amish.

We really enjoy reading Amish fiction books. Every two weeks we go to a Mennonite farm to buy raw cow's milk and raw cream. Although the Amish and Mennonite are different in ways, they also have some similarities. We have really enjoyed making friends with this Mennonite family. They are very genuine and plain people.

The first book, Life with Lily, she lives in upstate New York on an Amish farm and has many adventures along the way, including a new baby brother and starting school. There is always an adventure waiting to happen for Lily, plenty to do and people to love.

In the second book, A New Home for Lily, she moves to Pennsylvania, which means having to adjust to a new school, new friends and a new Amish community. She also meets the most annoying boy in the world, Aaron Yoder! Along this journey some things are good like exploring an attic full of adventure!

One of the authors of these books, Mary Ann Kinsinger was raised Old Order Amish. She started a blog, http://www.ajoyfulchaos.blogspot.com/, after she and her husband decided to leave the Amish church. Here she shares her journey from a happy little Amish girl to where she is today.

My oldest bug read these two books for this review and really enjoyed them. She would talk to me each and every night about what she had read that day. When I asked her how much she liked or disliked these books, she said, "Mom, I only have one word to describe them, AMAZING!"

The books are available, paperback or ebook form for only $12.99 each. They are very high quality books.

The ages are 8-12, according to the publisher but in our opinion, these would be great for all ages. These books would make a great family read-aloud. We highly recommend these two books.

There are two more books in The Adventures of Lily Lapp series coming. A Big Year for Lily and A Surprise for Lily.

Go see what other crew members had to say about these awesome books.