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!
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.
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.
Is your life busy? September & October are notoriously busy for us. Never fails, every year we have a full calendar on those 2 months. Field trips, apple orchard, pumpkin patch, driving to look at fall leaves changing, Civil War Re-enactments, camp fire school and much more!
I've had a week that feels like it's spinning out of control, lots to do, a full calendar and 4 deaths in a row. One was a TOS Review Crew wife and homeschooling mother of 2 small children. That is all enough to knock you for a loop for sure. But we have to sit back and remember that God is in control, He is still on the throne, even though we may allow ourselves to feel like life is spinning out of control.
At times like this I look to one of my favorite books of the Bible: Philippians. In chapter 4 verse 13, it read "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." That should do it for me, but sometimes I need a bit more encouragement, so I head over to the book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 6. "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
I think that sometimes that man that the verse is talking about is that man (woman) that planned my calendar page! I need the Lord to protect me from myself and my ease of becoming too busy!
I am a sinner (yes being too busy can be a sin), I am a work in progress and have lots of irons in the fire, as well as being a wife and mother of a homeschooler. As I feel my world spinning, (well it's starting to slow down as I move my eyes back to Jesus and off the calendar) I think of 1 John 5:14 & 15 "and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, he heareth us: And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."
So what to make of this blog post? Life Busy? Talk to the Lord MORE!
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.
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.
We worked on this together, he would fill in the ovals and then ask me what I thought of his answer. Most often we answered the same, so I feel that this StudentKeys Student Binder Package is pretty accurate in gauging where the student is in different areas of life. We had fun coming up with stories of how/why he does the things that he does, some of which drive this Homeschool Momma BANANAS!! So if your children have a tendency to drive you a bit batty on certain things, I highly suggest ordering the StudentKeys Student Binder Package, it showed me how some of my son's quirkiness could work for him on the job and in relationships.
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.
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.
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.
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!
This review was a real life changer for us, I was surprised by a few things and not surprised by some. Using the StudentKeys Student Binder Package helped us both learn some new ideas for the school year. Please click the bottom box below to see what other great products the TOS Review Crew got to try out from PeopleKeys.
It's been a busy back to school time and I've had a very sore shoulder & neck that does not like me to type, all leftovers from 2 past car accidents (not my fault). Seems to flare up 1x or 2x per year. This time I can't get an appointment for physical therapy for 8 days, not appointments open :O( I've heard it will be even worse with ObamaCare. So for now I am on a pack of steroids (oh joy!), Aleve and muscle relaxants. All of which I can say has done NOTHING for the pain. Would appreciate your prayers on this one.
The other thing that has kept me away is my mother needs to be moved into some typed of assisted living and it's really hard to have to start taking things over for a parent. So I have been busy looking into that kind of stuff.
Young adult homeschooler has been doing well in his studies, he is enjoying his first college class and also learning about just how much of a workload college will be ;-)
Here is what we are doing this year in our homeschool. Looks like a big year, but some of these are just semester classes.
Bible Answers In Genesis,
Video Text Interactive Algebra 1
Apologia Physical Science
Institute in Excellence in Writing for writing
Abeka English
Abeka Spelling,
Abeka Lit,
Abeka History/Geography,
Typing Abeka,
German
Computer class website design
Computer class in C#.
