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.

 







Fall Is In The Air!

 

No gluten cheating going on here! Time to make some Pumpkin goodies! I have a week of cooking & baking ahead of me since we are heading out of town for some much needed fun! I'll give you an update on our fun at a later date as I don't have all the plans laid out just yet. I busy getting food cooked and packed for myself for the trip, always a fun job! lol.

 

As for our homeschool we are in full swing and getting ready to take our fall break. Love schooling year round, because we ca take off during our favorite seasons and fall is one of those times.

 

Stop back by for an update our our fall fun!!

 

Recipe! It's fall and time to do some cooking...YUM!

Gluten Free Breadstix

 

 

bread sticks inspired by olive garden

 

These were really yummy! The recipe is from Better Batter and you can get it above at the link. I used Penzeys Buttermilk Ranch Seasoning, it's dairy free. in the margarine mix.

These freeze really well, just reheat for a few seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in the oven and enjoy with a nice salad.

 

The Presidential Game Review

Our family has a whole host of serious board gamers!! When we were offered the chance to review the The Presidential Game we jumped at the chance to review this product. As you will see, sometimes you roll the dice and don't get what you bargain for in the end. The Presidential Game is a game of strategy to see who can get the most Electoral Votes: 270 wins the game. Teams consist of Republicans and Democrats.

The Presidential Game comes with a 20" x 30" GAME Board, Score Pad, 3 Blue Dice, 3 Red Dice, 80 Politics Cards, 40 "Write-Your-Own" Politics Cards, 150 Republican Votes (red chips), 150 Democrat Votes (blue chips), 1 Electoral WebMap™ Calculator Access Code. The game is for ages 11 & up, I would think that most 9+ year olds could play on a team with an older child or adult. The game retails for $35.00 plus shipping. Either 2 players can play or you can set up 2 teams.

 

What this homeschool Momma liked about The Presidential Game.

1) Games works on math skills, lots of dice to count! More math comes into play when chips are used.
2) Works on reading skills.
3) You can decide how long you will play, picking 15 weeks runs about an hour. We played 30 weeks the first time and it took us about 2 hours, but we had a few interruptions along the way. After that when we played the games went pretty quickly.
4) Once we got the hang of the game it was pretty easy to play.
5) Nice large sturdy board game.
6) The website has a nice FAQ section.


What this homeschool Momma did not like about The Presidential Game.
1) The Presidential Game website says "entertaining and educational". I would say it's more entertainment than it is educational, as you really only learn the total number of Electoral Votes that you need to win a particular state.
2) I have a minor in political science and I had hoped for a bit more education in this game, such as campaigning laws and fundraising laws. It would not take much effort to include a few definitions in the instructions.
3) I thought we would learn how the number of Electoral Votes are decided upon for each state.
4) As parents we were very disappointed in some of the Political cards that were not too our liking regarding our family values. Here is just a sampling of the cards that we removed from our deck when we played. Let me just say that we are NOT sheltering our child, but we do not wish to make light of serious matters in our country that can result in jail time such as the "arrested for disorderly conduct" card. Some of the Political cards awarded chips or took chips away based on what the card topic was, including the following topics: legalizing marijuana, gambling, arrested for disorderly conduct, drunk uncle, separations in marriage, drinking beer, there were a few others we were not thrilled with, but to a Mom the ones that I listed were the worst offenders.
5) I was expecting a family friendly board game, but for our family the The Presidential Game did not deliver. Based on my review you can decide if those cards effect your buying decision as each family has their own values that they follow.  Had we known ahead of time that the Political cards dealt with adult themed items (or cards for mature audiences), we would have been prepared to answer questions that were brought up, but while we played the game, we were caught off guard by those cards.
6) We play a LOT of games in this house, yet we found the instructions were difficult for us to follow.
7) Wish that the Political cards gave the name of the candidate that they were speaking of, it would be a nice history lesson.

Electoral WebMap™ Calculator on our Kindle Fire

What this homeschool young man liked about The Presidential Game.

1) I liked Electoral WebMap™ Calculator and how I could keep score on the Kindle.
2) I liked trying to plan ahead what I was going to do in my game play.
3) Learned to work with teammates on game play.
4) I liked the write your own political cards.
 
What this homeschool young man did not like about The Presidential Game.
1) I was not real happy about some of the Political cards, especially living in a state where many of our political leaders are now in prison.
2) The game instructions were hard to follow, and I am still not sure that we are keeping score just right. I'm a numbers kinda guy and this bothers me! lol
3) The Electoral WebMap™ Calculator kept locking up on our Kindle, not sure if it was an Internet issue or not, but it happened each time we played. Maybe I was inputting info too quickly for it to process?
4) I did not like that Mom kept winning! LOL!
 
The concept of the The Presidential Game is AWESOME! But I think that they may need to tweak a few things to make the game more family friendly and more educational. Because think about it folks, what better way to learn about our political system than through playing a game!