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.

Living Virtuously: A Wife's Complete Guide To Keeping Her Heart & Home and Giveaway

Many years ago my friend shared some wonderful books and DVD's with me and one of the DVD's was of Erin Harrison and her family sharing on homesteading. We have always enjoyed watching them. When I saw her book Living Virtuously: A Wife's Complete Guide To Keeping Her Heart & Home, I knew it was something I would love reading.

 

 

This book takes you through Proverbs 31 in the bible among many other scripture. This is absolutely a wonderful book. I have really enjoyed reading it. There is so much to learn from this book. Any woman wanting to bless her family and herself will greatly benefit from the wonderful read. Many a woman would be blessed by this book by learning things taught in this book. It encouraged me to do better and become a better wife and mother.

This book will help you in so many aspects of your life. As a homesteading and homeschooling mom, I understand how hard it is to balance life! This book, for me, was a complete guide to learn to do better and how to do it. On the back of her book it lists.....

In the complete guide you will learn how to....

 

~Face adversity and find joy in your circumstances.

~Clean and organize your home as a haven of rest.

~Be frugal and plan meals.

~Arrange your life so you have more time.

~Teach your children a good work ethic while embracing motherhood.

~Control words and actions.

~Keep your heart pure.

~Honor your husband.

~Find balance in all areas.

~LIVE VIRTUOUSLY!

 

It is through her words and quoted scripture that I feel I can do better. When I read this, it made me smile. If you need encouragement and feel like you are failing at keeping your home, this book is for you. Erin will be a true inspiration to you.

 

 

You can order her book here. 

 

 

Time for a giveaway! I have an extra copy of this wonderful book to give to someone that would love to read this! Enter Below!

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.

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.

Apologia: Journeys of Faithfulness Book Review

Journeys of Faithfulness by Sarah Clarkson is a collection of inspirational stories and devotions written for young Christian women. It can be read alone or with other young women, or in my situation, two of my oldest daughters ages 11 & 15. It is written for girls ages 12 & up but my 11 year old is a very smart bug!

This book is broken down into four parts:

Part One: Mary and Martha

Part Two: Mary, Mother of Jesus

Part Three: Esther

Part Four: Ruth

The author provides fictionalized stories of these women and adds in possible actions and feelings. She also includes a devotional at the end of each chapter, a bible study and a journey journal for writing down you thoughts or prayers.

The stories in this book are very interesting and engaging, however, are fictionalized versions of God's Word. For some people, this is not a problem but for me, it is. I want my children to know the truth and God's Word is true! In my opinion, I am not that comfortable with any fiction in our Bible stories. We really enjoyed the Bible study and devotions in this book.

This paperback book consists of 232 pages and is available for purchase through Apologia Ministries for $13.00. Go here to purchase your copy.

This is strictly my opinion about this book. Since I have told you how I feel about this, you should see what other crew members had to say. I am sure there are many different views on this!

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

Schoolhouse Review: Samson's Classroom

SAMSON'S CLASSROOM is an online resource for K-5th grade that teaches sight words, spelling and reading comprehension.

There are three sections of games to Samson's Classroom.

SIGHT WORDS:   Sight words with Samson is proven to help early readers to master the 224 most commonly used words in the English language. The sight words are divided into lists that are taught in 5 steps.

Once they have finished all 5 exercises, they know the words.


SPELLING:   Spelling with Samson has over 5,000 words available. The teacher (parent) has the choice of creating their own lists or use one of the lists already included in the program. We have been using the ones provided.

My boy bug takes Tae Kwon Do, so his favorite part of the spelling is the missing letters part where Samson karate chops his way through the missing letters.


READING:   Reading with Samson gives students practice with their reading. My two bugs really liked this section a lot. There are so many different stories, very fun and engaging.

Again, my boy bug really enjoyed this. He asks me everyday if he can get on Samson's classroom. He will sit for the longest time and read these stories. He enjoys them so much that he started with the lowest level and is working towards finishing with the highest one. I am tickled pink that he is enjoying reading and spelling so much. You know it's a hit when they ask you if they can do something like this each and every day.

The swinging of the hammer was by far, the favorite! Everyone gathers around to see how many hammer points each one can get. This site is, and I quote, "TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"

HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS:

I think, for the older bugs, it's a really good site for practice. For the little bugs, it will be a wonderful supplement to their phonics and language curriculum. I can see our family using this for a long time. As of right now, I have two bugs, ages 9 and 11, using this. They are really enjoying it. I highly recommend this site, especially for a child/children who enjoy online, educational games. This is great for daily work and for "busy work" when I need to help another bug and give them my undivided attention.

You can purchase Samson's Classroom for 1 student for $30/year or $50/year for up to 4 users. They have several different pricing plans.

We were given a family membership for this review.

Check out what other crew members are saying about Samson's Classroom.

Disclaimer: I received a family membership to Samson's classroom, free,  in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Children in Church Review

CHILDREN IN CHURCH: NUTURING HEARTS OF WORSHIP by Curt and Sandra Lovelace is an up coming release from

http://www.raisingrealmen.com/

 

 

We have always felt that our children should be worshipping with us and not separated from us going to "children's church", as they call it in big churches. This book tackles all of the worries that one might have of wanting to allow your children to sit with you and worship with the family during the  church service.



 

The authors have plenty of scripture in this book to back up their beliefs and show how God intended for all ages to meet together as a family and complete congregation.  I enjoyed this book tremendously! I totally understand and agree with them on every aspect. They understand, as I, that not everyone will agree and have the same conviction. That's ok.

 

So much can be learned by reading this book. Not only scripture but from the couple's own experiences.

One of the many scriptures in the book:

           You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance-the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O LORD, your hands established.

                                                           Exodus 15:17



Here's a look at the Table of Contents in this book. I really enjoyed the scripture at the beginning of each chapter.

I.      Beginnings

II.     Elements

III.    Decisions

IV.     Pointers

V.      Preparations

VI.     Supplies

VII.    Hints

VIII.   Conflicts

IX.      Observations

Note to Church Leaders

This book, in my opinion, gives a very practical way to encourage parents to bring their children to worship service with them. It is filled with lots of ideas, basic child training and ways to keep your littles quiet during the service. I really liked their idea of a CHURCH BAG -------something to be filled with age-appropriate materials. This will be used only as needed and for a short time. The ultimate goal here is to give the littles something to do until they are able to participate in the service itself.

If this is something that you have been wanting to do for a while and need a little encouragement, you can purchase Children in Church for $12 with FREE SHIPPING!


See what other crew members had to say.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book at no cost in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Reading Kingdom Review

READING KINGDOM is an interactive online reading program that teaches children 4 - 10 years of age how to read. It starts at the beginning and teaches your child how to read through the third grade. It teaches six skills: sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammer and comprehension.

I decided to let my 9 year old son use Reading Kingdom. Before we began the set up, we were given a choice to choose the keyboard or the mouse to click on the letters. We chose the keyboard since he doesn't have much experience using one.

The program starts with a Seeing Sequences and Letter Land Assessment. Reading Kingdom really feels the need for this assessment.

The child sees a word or group of letters like this and in turn, the child clicks on each letter in the right order as the word given. It gets a little more difficult as he or she progresses. It gives the child practice with the keyboard also.

Big Boy was very happy when he was able to move on to the reading lessons.

How we used Reading Kingdom.......

I sat with Big Boy while he did his lessons. Not that it's required that you do this, I just enjoyed sitting with him, watching him learn. At first, he was excited about getting started with Reading Kingdom but during the assessment, he felt that is was boring and wanted to get through with it fast. After the assessment, the lessons were better and he felt better about the whole program. I would like for him to continue using Reading Kingdom as a supplement. In his words, "I like Reading Kingdom, it's fun!"

Go to Reading Kingdom and sign up for the free 30 day trial. If you like it and decide to use it, the cost is $9.99/monthly or $199.99/yearly. You can add another student(s) for $9.99 a month per child.

Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew to read what others are saying about Reading Kingdom.

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

TOS Review: Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers (Christian Liberty Press)

Christian Liberty Press has a mission to help parents fulfill their God-given responsibility to provide a Christ-centered education for their children. We have used numerous Christian Liberty products in our homeschool. When we were offered to review Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers, in ebook form, I jumped at the opportunity.

Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers is the first in a series of books by Douglas Bond. The suggested grade level is 7th - 10th. It is about a brother and sister, Annie and Drew, spending their summer in England. They start out thinking their summer vacation will be boring but when they befriend an elderly gentleman named Mr. Pipes, they begin to change their minds. Through their friendship with Mr. Pipes and the adventures they encounter, they learn about many famous hymn writers. Writers like Thomas Ken, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, William Williams and the list goes on.

We really enjoyed and are still enjoying Mr. Pipes. We are using it as a read-aloud. I printed the ebook out and put it into a 3-hole paper folder. The pictures in the book are so inviting. We are thoroughly enjoying this book. We also like the fact that in this book there are hymns throughout written by some of the writers we have learned about. There is a new hymn writer introduced in each chapter.

View a sample by clicking here.

Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers is available in paperback form for $9.89. For this review, we received the book in Pdf form and the cost of it is $8.79. Like I said earlier, this is book 1 of 4 in this series.

Mr. Pipes - Complete set is $38.99.

This is definitely a book to get for your homeschool. I will be purchasing the others in this series, SOON!

See what others on the crew had to say about Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers.

Disclaimer: As a TOS crew member, I received a free pdf copy of Mr. Pipes in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Hewitt Homeschooling Review

Lightning Lit & Comp

American Literature: Early-Mid 19th Century

Recently I was given the opportunity to review this product and was very excited about it. Not only is it my first review, it was a great opportunity to have one full year of literature for my oldest bug.

We received the Lightning Lit & Comp Student Guide - $29.95, and the Lightning Lit & Comp Teacher Guide - $2.95.  There are four books required for this course. They were not  included but can be purchased or found at your local library. It recommends that you use unabridged copies of the following books:

                    * The Autobiography (Benjamin Franklin)

                    * Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:

                                An American Slave Written by Himself (Frederick Douglass)

                    * The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne

                    * Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

These four books are listed in the order that they are read for the course.

Some of the shorter works included:

                    * "The Angler" by Washington Irving

                    * Poems by William C. Bryant

                    * "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar A. Poe

                    * Poems by Henry W. Longfellow

These short stories and poems were included in the student guide.

The STUDENT GUIDE is a 178 page softcover book that has eight lessons that are divided into different sections like this:

~~~Introduction

~~~The Selection

~~~While You Read

~~~Comprehension Questions

~~~Literary Lessons

~~~Writing Exercises

~~~Perspectives and Connections

~~~Appendix A, B, & C

The TEACHER GUIDE is 56 pages that are stapled together and have a three hole punch that can be used with a binder (not included). I love using binders! It has a table of contents with : introduction, grading tips, schedules, answers to comprehension questions, writing exercises and discussion questions. It explains each section in full detail.

What I thought about the course:

I really like the weekly lesson plans. We can look at the schedule and know exactly what to expect for that week. We have decided to do the full-year schedule along with our other language curriculum.

I like the fact that there wasn't a lot of prep time required on my part. My oldest bug was able to pretty much do it on her own. I would help her with any questions she might have and was able to correct anything with the teachers guide that she might have missed.

I felt that it covered the topics well. We will continue to use this for the rest of the school year and perhaps re-use it with the four other bugs when they become of age to do so. I would highly recommend this course to any student that loves to read!

To see other reviews, go to schoolhouse review crew.

The entire package can be purchased from Hewitt Homeschool:

Lightning Literature and Composition Pack American: Early to Mid 19th Century

Disclaimer: As a member of the schoolhouse review crew. I received this product, free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions stated are my own and those of my family.