Got boys that don't like to write? Reluctant writers? Boys with writers block? Guess what? I have found an awesome easy fix! In just 2 easy manageable steps you too can have a writer on your hands.
STEP 1: Ok, homeschool Mamma secret #1 is here...lol...what is one way to get boys to write? Get them interested in something...lol. BINGO! Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! Lego, Star Wars, hunting, fishing, running etc. What do your boys like to do?
STEP 2: Give them a safe platform to find their nitch in writing. The answer? BLOGGING!
I am pretty excited and a bit nervous as my little Homeschooled Young Man steps out into the world and begins his blogging journey. You can check him out over at The Brick Boy's Tips, Tricks And Reviews blog.
He plans to chat with other boys and teens about Lego's, making airplane models and creating 4-H projects. He is pretty excited about starting this blog. He won't be making any money on the blog (I think he thought he would make millions...lol), guess you have to be 18 to be able to have ads on your blog. Which is a great safety feature over at The Brick Boy's Tips, Tricks And Reviews blog. No worries over nasty ads appearing on the pages.
He is hoping to do some product reviews from companies, but has not done any work on that yet, so he is just buying the items himself and reviewing them.
I hope that you will feel free to pass his blog on to any young boys and teens that would enjoy what the Homeschooled Young Man is offering on his blog. Most of you are already familiar with his writing that he has done when he contributed to The Old Schoolhouse Magazines' product review. Also as readers you know our content will be safe for young readers. Also all comments are on moderation. He is also looking for guest bloggers, so contact him through his blog if you have a boy interested in WRITING (hahaha-insert sarcastic laughing), you can check out their grammar & spelling skills in their blog post.
Boy, am I getting pretty savvy or what at this homeschooling stuff-hahaha, wish I was this calm and laid back in the very beginning. Back when I first began homeschooling I would have never thought about blogging as being a writing, spelling or grammar assignment. I would have relied on worksheets, textbooks and grammar/spelling rules. We've come a long way baby! Have I ever said how much I am loving the teen years?
I hope that you can see your homeschool evolving over time into YOUR homeschool and not someone else's idea of what homeschooling is.
Take care,
Wife, Homeschooler, Mom, Gluten Free Cook and Blogger.
Showing posts with label book reivew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book reivew. Show all posts
SpellingCity.com Review
As homeschool product reviewers for The Old Schoolhouse Magazines TOS Review Crew we were given a Homeschool Membership to SpellingCity.com, it's a family membership for up to 5 students in our family. I had to giggle and reminisce back to the first years of our homeschool. We loved using SpellingCity.com, back in the day the homeschooled young man loved to play the free games and practice his spelling using the program. We had found our homeschool curriculum's spelling lists on the site and used those daily. Other times I would import my own lists for history, science and reading words. But there was something lacking in that whole process, now after using the Homeschool Membership of SpellingCity.com, I know exactly what it is. We were lacking accountability in knowing what was actually getting done, I just knew my homeschooler would tell me "I got X number wrong." or "I played this or that game."
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| Letter Fall game |
With the Homeschool Membership you get so much more for your homeschool shopping dollar. SpellingCity.com has an age range of K-12th grade, but I played around with some of the games and had a lot of fun, though I struggled with the Letter Fall game, the homeschool young man LOVED that game and played it a lot.
When you sign up and start the Homeschool Membership, you as the homeschool Momma type in the students' names, it's that easy! Then when your students sign on to SpellingCity.com, they just log in and they will automatically go to your parent homepage.
All activities done on SpellingCity.com will be recorded for you to later view in your parent account. Spelling test results will be right there for you to see and are recorded including the score
as well as the words that were spelled right or wrong.
All activities done on SpellingCity.com will be recorded for you to later view in your parent account. Spelling test results will be right there for you to see and are recorded including the score
as well as the words that were spelled right or wrong.
I allowed the homeschooling young man to goof around on the site and find what he wanted to work on and he found some pretty cool areas that I did not even know existed on the site. He came across some very COOL science vocab lists that are by grade and by subject, as well as GERMAN word lists. Now how cool is that? He was messing around with those German word lists day and night, big thrill for him since he is taking German this year. The other games that he really liked were Hang Mouse and Word Scramble.
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| Word-O-Rama game |
I do have one hint for you, coming from a homeschooling family that has used SpellingCity.com in the past, MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHILD USES THE CORRECT ACCOUNT THAT IS HOOKED UP TO YOUR PARENT ACCOUNT! At first I could not figure our why things were not being recorded in my parent account, I figured that I (not being tech savvy in the least!) had goofed something up. Well come to find out the homeschooling young man was going in and doing activities on his personal account, he was so use to entering in his (free account) info, that it never dawned on him that he was using the wrong account. And ya know how us homeschool mothers get busy...lol. We finally got it straightened out.
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| Flash Card
"Differentiated Learning": you can assign different tasks to each of your children
"Efficient record keeping": Great for states where homeschoolers must track their students because the tests results and student activities are recorded right away.
"
SpellingCity.com also offers Mobile Apps, and now they even offer an Android App and a Kindle app. We used the Kindle app and it worked really well.
All in all we had fun playing with the SpellingCity.com Homeschool Membership and I think we learned from using it too. Make sure you check out the FAQ section, lots of helpful info there and also a great video guide is on the site too. P.S. SpellingCity.com comes in handy when homeschool Momma is busy and can't stop just right then and there, she can send her students to play on SpellingCity.com...lol. The kids won't even know they are learning, they will be having so much fun!! Also, SpellingCity.com is a great learning tool for homeschoolers. See SpellingCity.com for more information. |
Use Promo Code SHARK20
Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak Review
Please note that prices and offers may change after this blog post has been published.
We are SUPER CHARGED with excitement to share with you The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak for grades 3rd-8th from Home School In The Woods.
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| Hard at work? Or hardly working because this is so much FUN? |
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| Completed Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak for ages 3rd-8th grade is seen above and below is a list of what is included. |
The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak comes with the following areas of study:
Newspapers & TV Media
Sports
Persons of importance
Conflicts around the world
Politics
Medical
Space travel
Art history
Architecture
Writers & books
Musical movements
Transportation
Historical events
Missionaries
Disasters
The Stock Market Crash
Science and Inventions
Food Trends of the 20th Century
Clothing styles
Jargon of the 20th Century
Timeline
WarsThe 20th Century in America Lap-Pak also comes with a booklet to make that contains more information about the history of the 20th Century.
What this homeschool Momma did not like:I failed to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. I just jumped in and started printing everything off. Big goof! Some pages needed to be printed on colored paper and some needed to be printed back to back. My goof, but I think for us rushed home schooled Momma’s it would be great if on the main page we were told to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. LOL...chalk this up to operator error and nothing against Home School In The Woods. I'm must showing that I am a real life person and do goof up!
I think this would be hard for younger kids to follow all the detailed instructions by themselves, so younger kids would need a lot of supervision with this, BUT I think it would be a great learning experience and lots of fun to work on together.
What this homeschool Momma liked:
I found that this Lap-Pak contained projects that work on the following skill sets including art, drawing and creative writing. This Lap-Pak allows the student to delve into fun topics all the while learning historical facts. Use of research skills and math skills (using measurements to make sure that the pieces went together correctly) were also used.
Our student got totally lost in this Lap-Pak, he would spent hours working on it. He was coloring, cutting, gluing, taping and putting brads on. I was so impressed by the work that he was doing. Following each direction to a T.
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| This was so cool! We used overhead projector transparencies to make windows for these. |
Our student was thrilled with this Lap-Pak and wants to tackle The Civil War one next.
Our student did have some difficulty figuring out the photocopying of the back to back/back to front of pages, but I am putting that down under the “What I liked” section, because he learned how to use the copier and flip the pages over to photocopy on the backside. So I was very pleased that he learned some real life skills through this review. How many of us homeschool moms struggle with “which side do I put up in the paper tray, when we are making photo copies. (waving hand in the air)
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| This record player is the neatest thing! It spins and has different saying that show up. |
Instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. I was able to complete the Lap-Pak during the review. Everything was explained step-by-step.
I really liked how the project shapes for each area corresponded with each area I was studying. For example, the “Medical Advances” used a syringe that you cut out and put together. You then pull the plunger up and a new medical advancement shows up in the window.
Fun way to learn history.
“I liked the fact that there was more to do than in an ordinary lap-book. I think that this Lap-Pak was made for older kids and was a lot of fun to do.
I want to review the Civil War Lap Pak next!
I plan to use this with my 4-H project this year too.
LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!
What this homeschool student did not likeI wish that there was an easier way to figure out how to photo copy the pages from front to back, I goofed several times and ran out of colored paper. I started to get frustrated and then finally figured it out. YEAH!
The Home School In The Woods Lap-Paks are fun and a great learning tool for your homeschool. There are several to choose from and lots of fun learning to be had by all ages. We are thankful to Home School In The Woods for allowing us this great learning opportunity to review The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.
Apologia Young Explorer Series Science Book Review
Are you looking for an easy science curriculum for your 4th-6th grader?
We had seen Apologia in the vendor hall and heard them speak at our homeschool convention. We sort of drooled over the Apologia curriculum, but in keeping with tradition we continued with our ‘boxed curriculum’ that we always used. “Why change?” Well let me tell you, once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology showed up in the mail, it was like Christmas at our house, ripping and tearing of the mailing bag, paper flying all over! Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Even though our student is in the 7th grade, I felt that this would be a good fit for him since science has always been a struggle for my normally sharp student. The boxed curriculum that we had been using pretty much focused on memorizing terms and answering questions: BORING! Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology teaches from a different angle. “This K-6 science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the incredible human body.”
1) The book is hardcover “I can toss it in my book bag to take in the car and it does not get all bent up.”
2) I like the full color photos and crisp pages.
What this Momma did not like about Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) I thought that the MP3 audio would be great, until I found that it would only play in our computer. The MP3 does state that “you must play it in an MP3-compatible CD player or on a computer”. I was thinking that it would have been great to take it on car trips or for our student to be able to listen to it in his room on a CD player.
Things that this homeschooling Momma liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) Penmanship, it always seems like such a chore in the homeschool, read just about any homeschooling blog or website and you will see Mothers chatting about handwriting. The Anatomy Notebooking Journal incorporates copy work right in to their lessons. It’s all blended together in the learning process and as an added blessing the copy work consists of Bible memory verses!!
2) I like the answer key being in the back of the textbook, it’s nice not to have an extra book (answer key) to hunt for when grading work. The lesson planning guide is included in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, yet again one less thing to have to hunt for :O)
3) Love, Love, Love the different skin tones of the paper dolls to pick from in the Personal Person project.
4) The section of the student textbook called “How To Use This Book: A step-by-step guide and the Items Needed to Complete Each Lesson were WONDERFUL!!! There was no hunting for supplies or starting a lesson only to find out that there is an experiment that day needing XYZ that you don’t have on hand to complete. It’s all right there in the front of the book listed by lesson. How easy is that for a busy homeschooling Momma!!
5) I like how the Apologia website offers sample pages of all the textbooks so you can look through them before buying. Very nice feature.
6) I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days, many days of laying and doing nothing on pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
We had seen Apologia in the vendor hall and heard them speak at our homeschool convention. We sort of drooled over the Apologia curriculum, but in keeping with tradition we continued with our ‘boxed curriculum’ that we always used. “Why change?” Well let me tell you, once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology showed up in the mail, it was like Christmas at our house, ripping and tearing of the mailing bag, paper flying all over! Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (hardcover) by Jeannie Fulbright and Brooke Ryan, M.D. Grades 4-6.
The student textbook is hardcover and looks as thought it would hold up well for use by more than one student.
Young Explorer Series Anatomy Notebooking Journal for Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (spiral bound) by Jeannie Fulbright. Grades 3-6.
The Journal is spiral bound with a soft cover and it has yet to tear by the spiral, most of our spiral bound textbooks/workbooks from other companies seem to fray quickly and eventually tear at the first few spirals. 
Even though our student is in the 7th grade, I felt that this would be a good fit for him since science has always been a struggle for my normally sharp student. The boxed curriculum that we had been using pretty much focused on memorizing terms and answering questions: BORING! Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology teaches from a different angle. “This K-6 science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the incredible human body.”
Things that our student liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
2) I like the full color photos and crisp pages.
3) “You always get to do something fun in the Try This section. ”
4) The course website book extras were GREAT!!! “I had fun going to these websites to read more about what I was learning in each lesson.”
Things that our student did not like about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) "NOTHING, I LOVED IT AND CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW'S LESSON!"
What this Momma did not like about Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) I thought that the MP3 audio would be great, until I found that it would only play in our computer. The MP3 does state that “you must play it in an MP3-compatible CD player or on a computer”. I was thinking that it would have been great to take it on car trips or for our student to be able to listen to it in his room on a CD player.
2) I did not care for some of the printing fonts used in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, I thought that they were very hard for me to read. And might be especially hard for younger children that are not yet seasoned readers. The fonts used on many of the pages are bubbly or squiggly shaded fonts that are really hard on the eyes, otherwise the rest of the type is fine throughout the journal. I get that the digestive system is squiggly because it's the intestines, but for a struggling reader, this might be hard to read. They are very cute and fun though.
Things that this homeschooling Momma liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) Penmanship, it always seems like such a chore in the homeschool, read just about any homeschooling blog or website and you will see Mothers chatting about handwriting. The Anatomy Notebooking Journal incorporates copy work right in to their lessons. It’s all blended together in the learning process and as an added blessing the copy work consists of Bible memory verses!!
2) I like the answer key being in the back of the textbook, it’s nice not to have an extra book (answer key) to hunt for when grading work. The lesson planning guide is included in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, yet again one less thing to have to hunt for :O)
3) Love, Love, Love the different skin tones of the paper dolls to pick from in the Personal Person project.
4) The section of the student textbook called “How To Use This Book: A step-by-step guide and the Items Needed to Complete Each Lesson were WONDERFUL!!! There was no hunting for supplies or starting a lesson only to find out that there is an experiment that day needing XYZ that you don’t have on hand to complete. It’s all right there in the front of the book listed by lesson. How easy is that for a busy homeschooling Momma!!
5) I like how the Apologia website offers sample pages of all the textbooks so you can look through them before buying. Very nice feature.
6) I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days, many days of laying and doing nothing on pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Looking back at our years of struggling with science, I wish we had decided to use Apologia Educational Ministries, INC long ago!! Our son would like to go back and do the other Apologia science books: Zoology, Astronomy, Botany, Flying Creation and Swimming Creation. So I think we will be spending our summers under a shade tree or at the beach with some new Apologia science books.
What do you use for science? Why do you like it?
Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Review for K-6th grade
Having seen Apologia
Educational Ministries, INC at the vendor hall, heard them speak at
homeschool conventions, having drooled over the Apologia curriculum and having
done a review for them in the past while on the TOS Review Crew, I was thrilled
to be asked to take part in this review. Once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics,
a homeschool science curriculum showed up in the mail, homeschool young man was
ready to start. Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming
fun experiments and the activity pages in the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics
Notebooking Journal!! Due to a shipping error we were sent the wrong
notebooking journal by Apologia, they offered for us to keep the wrong one and
then promptly sent us the correct one. I was excited to be able to use the Exploring
Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal. I've never
had chemistry or physics so I thought it would be a great way for me to pick up
on some of the materials so I have at least a foundation in those two subjects.
The homeschool young man is interested in
becoming a physician. (this is the reason why this homeschool Momma will
not be re-joining the TOS Review Crew for the 2013-2014 school year. The
homeschool young man has been accepted to a medical school's physician prep
program, so our days are going to be a little busy with this program, so I
would not have the needed time to devote to the wonderful TOS Review Crew.) So
in preparing the homeschool young man for a ministry in medicine, I've got some
tough subjects in my future as a homeschool Momma. Chemistry and Physics SCARE
ME and can keep me awake at night if I am not careful! lol. When this review came
out, I saw that it was for K-6th grade, but thought this would be helpful to
me, so I applied and explained my reasoning. I was so excited when we were
approved for the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics review.
While completing this review, I noticed
that the materials were right on this tired, old homeschool Momma's level and
of course too low for my freshmen homeschool young man (remember that Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics
is for K-6th grade), but he still enjoyed it. Sometimes it's fun for our
homeschool kids to have something that is educational, yet easy.
There were so
many concepts in this homeschool science resource from
Apologia
Educational Ministries, INC that were a great foundation for homeschool
young man to learn before stepping into their high school series on these
subject. I think it is important to learn some concepts as a younger student,
they might not fully understand them or know exactly how to put them into
practice. Nevertheless, when the full scope of learning comes about, there are
some foundational materials in the brain already and I think it helps things
come together in the end.
The Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics
book is a very nice hardcover textbook, which could be used by more than one
student. Textbook is $39.00 (hardcover) and is authored by Jeannie Fulbright.
You all know me and how I like bright colored pictures in my textbooks, you
have got those in the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics,
and LOTS OF THEM! Nothing less than what you would expect from a quality
homeschool science curriculum like Apologia Educational
Ministries, INC. "Engaging text, many hands on demonstrations,
projects and experiments and exciting articles." Your child will make bouncy balls, lava lamps,
smoke bombs (COOL!) and mini motors. There is a list in the back of the book
for needed supplies for the experiments. They are all pretty easy to locate. I
will give you a hint though, for ease of doing the experiments in our busy
homeschooling lives, I would shop around for a supply kit, because I find it is
MUCH easier on me if I actually have everything bagged up for me, for each
experiment, otherwise I find it an effort to drop what I am doing and drive to
town to buy X. It is so much easier for me to say, "We will do this
tomorrow." Well, ya know what? In our perfect world tomorrow NEVER seems
to come! So homeschool Momma, treat yourself to a pre-made kit of supplies.
The homeschool Momma's notebook was the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal it was just right for me! There were coloring pages, short vocab crossword puzzles, lapbooking (homeschool young man liked those, but who does not like lapbooking? lol). Very easy to do and great graphics as usual from Apologia Educational Ministries, INC. This notebooking journal for the young grades is just $24.00, you can use the hardcover textbook without the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal, but I do not recommend it. The notebooking journals add so much to the learning process that I personally think that they are essential.
The homeschooled young man used the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal also $24.00. The older kids notebooking journal has many of the same things as the Junior Notebook does, but at a higher level of difficulty. The fun and economical aspect of Apologia Educational Ministries, INC is that you can buy one textbook for your family and then just buy the needed notebooks based on grade. For one low price you can teach science to all your children together, while each works at a different level in their notebooks. How easy is that on the busy homeschool Momma's schedule!
You all know that I like to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to education. When I think of skills learned by using Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics I think of public speaking (telling me back what was learned), reading/oral reading of daily work, writing skills, Bible and so much more! I love how the textbooks are written in an easy to read fashion, the text really flows as the student reads. The suggested use is 2 days per week, for this review we were asked to do 4 days per week. In our homeschool we do science 5 days per week, so it was manageable for us. We enjoyed the sections on atoms and energy, we had not studied either of those in the past. As a homeschool Momma, my favorite part was the fact that the answer keys were easy to use! Homeschool young man loved the puzzles in the book, I had thought he would like the experiments, but it was the vocab puzzles that he liked best.
The only thing that I thought about regarding this review that was negative is that I think that there is a LOT of notebooking activities for the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal. I would not get bogged down with the notebooking at this young age (K-3rd), I would let them pick and choose what to do in the notebook, UNLESS you would be trading out handwriting class, for them writing on the copywork pages. To me the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal would be just the right amount of work for a 4th-6th grader.
YET AGAIN, ANOTHER QUALITY PRODUCT FROM
Click below to see what my Crew buddies had to say when they wrote their reviews.
Moe
Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible Review
This review was so timely for me,
because every new school year I like to treat myself to a new devotional book for
homeschooling Moms. The TOS Review
Crew was blessed to review Zondervan's KJV
Homeschool Mom's Bible, I got the
hardcover King James Version with the dust jacket that retails for $34.99,
there is also an Ebook version Ebook version for $14.99 and a cornflower blue Italian Duo-Tone™ that retails for $49.99. The NIV version that can
be found by clicking here NIV.
I have never found a homeschool mom's devotional that included the
Bible in the text, so this was pretty neat, I could take it anywhere and not
have to drag 2 books with me, my Bible & my devotional, it was nice to just
bring along my KJV Homeschool
Mom's Bible!! Actually I left this Bible in my car a lot, the devotionals
were a quick read while waiting on my son at the library, mall, piano practice
and other places.
Normally I would not spend $34.99
on a devotional book, but what a bargain the KJV
Homeschool Mom's Bible is, you get
a Bible too. The Foreword of the book is written by Vickie Farris who is an
author and wife of HSLDA's Founder Dr.
Michael Farris, I've read several of Mike & Vickie's books over the years
so I knew if she endorsed the KJV Homeschool
Mom's Bible it was going to be a good read! Vickie's opening lines say it
all..."You and I share something incredible. We're called to the very
challenging, yet very fulfilling life of a homeschool
mom." Just reading those first few lines reminds me of the high calling of
motherhood and of a homeschooling mom. WOW, that is so easy to forget when we are
bogged down in our daily grind.
The author of KJV
Homeschool Mom's Bible Janet Tatman has homeschooled
for more than 25 years with her four children. She has been a copywriter for
Alpha Omega Publications in the homeschool
division. She also spent 6 years writing the daily Focus, a devotional that
comes by email each day. So I am thinking she has it going on, when it comes to
knowing just what we homeschool mom's
need for encouragement.
KJV Homeschool
Mom's Bible is chock full of daily devotion to choose from, there are 365
in all. That is one devotion for each day of the year to help us busy
homeschool moms on a daily basis. The book can be used in two different ways,
depending on how you like to study the Bible, and if you have never studied the
Bible, the KJV Homeschool
Mom's Bible makes it simple for you. You can follow a daily format,
(devotions are dated starting on page 3.) or you can use the topical index that
you find in the back of the book starting on page 1489. I'm a topical kinda
gal, because I don't like to go by the dates since if I get behind, it bums me
out :O)
I only had one dislike about the KJV
Homeschool Mom's Bible and it's
really more of a personal preference. The devotions have nothing to do with the
book of the Bible or the chapter of the Bible that they are printed in. For
example devotion number 1 is "The Passion of Homeschooling" it's
located in the KJV Homeschool
Mom's Bible between Genesis 3:1-3:2. However, the verses in that days
devotion are Ps 139:3, Rev 3:15-16, 1 Jn 1:9 and John 14:21. My personal preference
in daily devotions is to read a passage of scripture and then have a devotional
that goes along with the current Bible reading; there again this dislike is
personal preference.
I love the topical index, because
some days I am just in need of a certain thing, idea, fact or Scripture and I can
glance through the index and find just what my soul needs that day. For example,
there are listing of things like (some of which I had never come across in a
homeschool mom's devotional) birth order, bitterness, deadlines, discouragement,
food, freedom, hiding, material possessions, romance, seeds of faith, spiritual
warfare and tragedy. Those were just a sampling of the topics; there are many
more topics to choose from. It's so exciting to have a troubling day and just
glance through the topical index to find the perfect devotional, it soothes the
soul.
I also liked the questions in the
text of the devotions in the KJV Homeschool
Mom's Bible, they are there for you to meditate and think on. They were
very revealing to me as I read, a reminder of things that I need to work on in
my own life.
I highly recommend Zondervan's
KJV
Homeschool Mom's Bible for the new homeschooler as well as the veteran homeschool
mom. Click
here to read more reviews of the book from other TOS Review Crew members or if you enjoy the NIV version of the Bible, you can read the TOS reviews of that book too.
Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures Book Review
We have been given the privilege to review the paperback version of Gwen Toliver's book Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures. The paperback is available at Grace and Truth Books for $12.50, there is also a Kindle Ebook version. The book is full of 21 true missionary stories. Some of the missionary names have been changed because of the sensitivity of the country (this protects the missionaries from being found out).
As a side note, Gwen Toliver is a fellow TOS Crew Review member, homeschool mom and her family serves with Wycliffe Associates which is a ministry for Bible translating organizations. And as I think of it, our church has supported the Burnham family as missionaries, Gracia Burnham wrote the Foreword for Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures. The book would be for ages 5+, with the younger ones being read to and the older ones reading alone or as a family.
The homeschool young man is writing this review so you will be getting the homeschool student perspective on this review. As the homeschool Mom, I read over the book very quickly (in about an hour) and found it to be a real page turner! I wanted to know what was going to happen next in the story. Very exciting! I loved that it was a GOOD book that captivated my 13 year old son! It's hard to find a good, clean, wholesome and quality paperback for a teenage boy!
What this homeschool young man liked about the book Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures:
1) I liked how they had examples of he whistling man.
2) I liked how the website had extra stuff, the pictures were really cool! The photos were too old to be used in the actual printing of Gwen Toliver's book Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures so they put the pictures up on the website just click here to see them pictures.
3) I really liked how the forward was actually a shortened story.
4) I loved all the fun stories.
5) I liked how some of the missionaries were related.
6) My favorite story was "The Blood Arrow."
7) I was already familiar with the story "The Five Empty Vessels" with Don Johnson, but it was nice to read it again.
8) I think back to when I was younger, this would have been a great book for my parents to read to me before bed.
9) The stories would be fine for girls, but I really think that little boys and young teen boys would really enjoy reading Seed Sowers-Gospel Planting Adventures.
10) I liked the drama, excitement, suspense
11) I liked to read about how the missionaries never gave up, they just kept on serving the Lord, many of them never seeing the fruits of their labor.
What this homeschool young man did not like about the book Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures:
1) I thought some of the stories were very short.
2) I think that there should be chapter breaks in the longer stories so that they can be read up to a exciting point and then leave a cliff hanger for the next days reading. Boys like books like that :O)
Over all it was a fun book. My mom used this as a free read book for me as a treat when my school work was done for the day. It was nice to have something exciting to look forward to at the end of my school day. I was never disappointed. I enjoy reading missionary stories and seeing how missionaries don't just give up, they keep on doing the Lord's work, even though they may never see the harvest.
The homeschool young man is writing this review so you will be getting the homeschool student perspective on this review. As the homeschool Mom, I read over the book very quickly (in about an hour) and found it to be a real page turner! I wanted to know what was going to happen next in the story. Very exciting! I loved that it was a GOOD book that captivated my 13 year old son! It's hard to find a good, clean, wholesome and quality paperback for a teenage boy!
1) I liked how they had examples of he whistling man.
2) I liked how the website had extra stuff, the pictures were really cool! The photos were too old to be used in the actual printing of Gwen Toliver's book Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures so they put the pictures up on the website just click here to see them pictures.
3) I really liked how the forward was actually a shortened story.
4) I loved all the fun stories.
5) I liked how some of the missionaries were related.
6) My favorite story was "The Blood Arrow."
7) I was already familiar with the story "The Five Empty Vessels" with Don Johnson, but it was nice to read it again.
8) I think back to when I was younger, this would have been a great book for my parents to read to me before bed.
9) The stories would be fine for girls, but I really think that little boys and young teen boys would really enjoy reading Seed Sowers-Gospel Planting Adventures.
10) I liked the drama, excitement, suspense
11) I liked to read about how the missionaries never gave up, they just kept on serving the Lord, many of them never seeing the fruits of their labor.
2) I think that there should be chapter breaks in the longer stories so that they can be read up to a exciting point and then leave a cliff hanger for the next days reading. Boys like books like that :O)
Over all it was a fun book. My mom used this as a free read book for me as a treat when my school work was done for the day. It was nice to have something exciting to look forward to at the end of my school day. I was never disappointed. I enjoy reading missionary stories and seeing how missionaries don't just give up, they keep on doing the Lord's work, even though they may never see the harvest.
PeopleKeys Review
We received the StudentKeys Student Binder Package from PeopleKeys which included a 3 ring binder to keep everything together and the following assessment workbooks geared towards ages 13-adult and or students in high school through college.
StudentKeys Student Binder Package includes the following workbooks, see the website for more details.
DISC Personality Style Workbook-Works to explain and show personality styles through "strengths, limitations and motivations".
Perceptual Learning Style Workbook-Allows students to find out if they are auditory, visual or kinesthetic learners.
Cognitive Thinking Style Workbook-Helps find out if your student is a literal, theoretical, intuitive or experiential learner.
Values Style Workbook-Helps the student identify Values Styles such as "loyalty, equality, personal freedom and justice."
Career Choice Workbook-This workbook helps to match students with career fields that match their styles.
Goal Setting Workbook- Helps students set goals regarding "education, career and personal development."
All this for just $49.00 complete. Below is a YouTube video for you to get more information.
I was a little concerned at the start of this review, because I thought this might be a bit above the thinking skills for my 13 year old son. But he jumped right in and started filling in the ovals with his personality traits in his DISC Personality Style Workbook. Sometimes stopping to look up a word in the dictionary such as pioneering, we knew what the word meant, but not how it related to personality style. He has some lofty career goals and the StudentKeys Student Binder Package was an AWESOME tool for him.
What this Homeschool Momma liked about StudentKeys Student Binder Package by PeopleKeys:
1. Easy to use!
2. Fun!
3. Learned some interesting things about myself (I went through the booklets orally and learned a lot about myself that way)
4. Extra learning, by having to look up words in the dictionary to get their full meaning, we knew all the words, but were not sure exactly how to define them in terms that the workbook was looking for.
5. Not boring at all!
6. Learned some life skills.
7. Learned some new vocabulary.
8. Very nice customer service, I had a question and they were very helpful.
9. My favorite workbook of all was the Goal Setting Workbook, as I don't think many young people today have any idea how to set goals for themselves.
What this Homeschool Momma did not like about StudentKeys Student Binder Package by PeopleKeys:
1. I would have liked to have a bit more instructions. Starting on page 8 of the DISC Personality Style Workbook there were really no instructions besides to place a check mark if you agree that characteristic describes your personality, then really nothing more to go by. I was at a loss at to what to do after that in that book.
2. You all know I like color and flare! These books are all black and white, but work well. Just a personal dislike of mine :O)
3. The assessments are timed and I know some people don't much care for that, but they were pretty simple to get done in the allotted time. Though as I said, we had to look up a few words in the dictionary to find out the meaning that went along with the assessment we were working on.
What this Homeschool Young Man liked about StudentKeys Student Binder Package by PeopleKeys:
1) I liked how it was so true.
2) I learned a lot about myself.
3) It was easy to do.
4) It was a lot of fun to learn more about myself.
5) My favorite workbook was the Perceptual Learning Style Workbook, because it helped explain to my mom the way I learn.
6) I learned some better study habits that fit my learning style, like listening and repeating information to myself.
7) My Mom figured out why I like to touch and handle things while I am learning.
What this Homeschool Young Man did not like about StudentKeys Student Binder Package by PeopleKeys:
1) There could have been more instructions.
2) I had to look up several words in the dictionary such as systematic, analytical, methodical and experiential thinker.
3) Taking the assessments was fun but made my brain tired. So I would have your student take these assessments when they are fresh and well rested.
4) In the Learning Style Workbook on page 16, there is a grammar mistake in the last paragraph (the question reads) "Was it a quiet or did you have music?" I'm a stickler for grammar errors!
Doorposts Bible Study Review
We were so excited to get to be a part of this review! My son had such an awesome learning experience while participating in the review for Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster. The softcover book retails for $14.00 but is currently on sale on the Doorposts website for $12.00. It's a steal even at the full price!
WOW!! What an awesome devotional book. I almost hesitate to call it a devotional. When I think of a devotional book, I tend to think of, oh maybe 2 or 3 paragraphs, a few thought provoking questions to ponder and a one sentence Bible verse that ties it all in. This is so not what Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men is all about.
Doorposts is a name that our family has come to trust over the years. We have lots of their items that we have used over the years with great success and let me be the first to tell you (before you read what the other TOS Reviewers had to say.) this devotional for young men is
unbelievable, it's full of meat and potatoes and not just milk and honey. It digs down deep and makes the boys think and contemplate on what is being taught. Don't get me wrong, your son does NOT have to be a seminary student to understand the material presented in the Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men, it's all done in an easy to read and understandable format.
On a side note the author of the book Daniel Forster is a homeschool graduate and also manager of Doorposts. Forster is married and has three children. My son thought that was pretty cool.
What this Homeschool Momma liked about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.
1) Well for one thing I can tell that this was written by a former homeschool boy in that there is ample room for writing. LOL...you know how our homeschool boys like to write? lol...lots of room to write, cross out, write some more. Love that. Usually there is like 1 tiny little line to write on smooshed in between sentences and the boys write in there and we can't read it! LOVE THIS!
2) I liked how this study was full of meat and potatoes and not just a few lines to read, a question and a single Bible verse like many devotion books of today, but thinking of the quality of Doorposts I knew it would be good.
3) I liked how this held my sons attention, I did not have to get after him to have his daily devotions. Which for a Christian homeschool momma that is a blessing.
4) The Bible study tools were incredible; we now have a desktop full of great Bible study tools at the click of a mouse.
5) I teach Sunday School to 1-3 graders at church and have shared many of the Bible websites with the kids as many of them like to play online. I thought these would be great for them to have some wholesome websites to play around on and learn about God's word.
6) Easy to use for boys ages 12 and up.
7) I enjoyed the History of the Strong's Concordance, I had no idea that there was any real history behind that book! So the old homeschool Momma learned something new!
8) Math skills! You all know that I like to pull in all areas of schooling when we are working on something. Well I see math skills in this book! They have some graphing activities...YIPPE!!!
9) Teaches Bible study methods which is a skill our young men will use for the rest of their lives and pass on to the next generation (our Grandchildren).
10) The book goes over literary style in the Bible, I am lacking in knowledged in this area and gleaned a lot from this. Teaches about context, cross referencing, biographical sketches, summary and application of the materials.
What this Homeschool Momma did not like about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.
1) I honestly could not come up with a single thing, well with the exception of there are no pictures in the book or cartoon images. Which that is not a dislike exactly, it's a personal preference on my part. I like to see pictures or cute cartoons.
What this Homeschool young man liked about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.
LOL...Where do I begin? There was so much going on in daily each lesson that I'm not sure where to begin so I will just start firing things off.
1) The Bible Study websites, I had so much fun digging around in those and I learned a lot by looking at the different maps and commentaries. We have a commentary in paperback, but it was neat to have one online that I could look at and cross reference as I worked through the book.
2) I looked forward to each day to find out what new thing I was going to learn.
3) I liked how I could do more than 1 study per day, seems like the every day ordinary old devotional you are suppose to stop and then start on the next day with a new devotional. Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men continued from day to day for several days. So everything ties in together.
4) My favorite chapters of the book were A Topical Study on the Omnipotence of God and A Character Study of Sampson.
5) LOVED the Bible programs and Mobile Apps. I'm still having fun with these even after the review.
6) I liked the word studies and the "For additional study" sections of the book. They helped me to get a better understanding of the topics I was studying.
What this Homeschool young man did not like about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.
1) NOTHING!
I think a few things you might want to have on hand (you can get these for FREE online if you GOOGLE them.
Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men author recommends using a Nave's Topical Bible and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.
I would add the following items.
2 Bibles with different translations
Study Bible
dictionary
topical Bible
Bible dictionary
commentary (the book recommends Matthew Henry's, but we were fine using one we had on hand already)
thesaurus
So all in all we are saying this one is a KEEPER!! We would expect nothing less from Doorposts!!
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