I was very blessed to grow up in a reading family. My parents were always reading, and passed on that love of reading to me. Now, as a parent, I try to instill that love in my children as well and have found that one of the best things you can do for your children is read to them from a very young age.
Recently, Guardian Angel Publishing sent me free copies of five of there ebooks to try out and write this review. They ranged from simple picture ebooks - Maybe We are Flamingos, Rainbow Sheep - to an ebook about a handicapped boy competing at the fair - Andy and Spirit Go to the Fair - to more educational style books - No Bones About It - The Sum of our Parts Series, Earthquake. But, no matter the topic, they were all well written with a moral to the story.
The first book, Maybe We Are Flamingos, was a joy to read to Joshua, my 8 year old. Written by Safari Sue Thurman, Maybe we are Flamingos is about newly hatched Flora and Fernando Flamingo who doubt their identity because they don't look quite like their adult relatives. After some soul searching and a discussion with their mother, they find that they are really Flamingos after all. The writing is very imaginative, and the illustrations by Kevin Scott Collier made my son roll on the floor laughing. This story can be downloaded as an ebook ($5.00) or bought as an ebook on CD ($9.95+SH), Paperback book ($10.95+SH) or as a DVD book video (9.95+SH). Suggested age for readers: 3 (read to age) to 9 (read alone).
Rainbow Sheep, written and illustrated by Kim Chatel, is an equally cute book. Rainbow Sheep is about the shepherdess Genevieve and her unique flock of sheep. After a few particularly rainy days, Genevieve decides to climb the tallest hill and tickle away the clouds only to find a very sad rainbow. In her usual friendly way, she cheers her newly found friend up and is in return given a special gift. Kim Chatel has creatively illustrated her book using the art of felting and has included in the back of her book the history of felting along with some felting crafts that your children can create with adult help. Written for readers 4 (read to age) to 10 (read alone) Rainbow Sheep can be purchased as a downloadable ebook ($5.00) an ebook on CD ($9.95+SH), a paperback book ($10.95+SH) or a book DVD ($9.95+SH).
Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair, by Mary Jean Kelso, illustrated by K.C. Snyder is part of the Andy and the Albino Horse series. This series focuses on young Andy, a wheelchair bound boy, and his struggles with his disability. After going through equine therapy, Andy falls in love with an Albino horse by the name of Spirit. Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair, the second book in the series, is about the horse and boys first major riding competition at the Nevada State Fair. I would recommend this beautifully illustrated book to anyone who has a child with a disability or who would like to educate their child on disabilities. Although the Guardian Angel Press website has this book rated "for children of all ages (0-12)", I would recommend this book to children in the upper age range of that scale. Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair is sold for $5.00-downloadable ebook, $9.95+SH-ebook on CD, or $10.95-paperback book edition. The website lists the DVD book video edition coming soon for $9.95+SH. The website also states "A portion of the proceeds from this book are donated to Healing Reins of Bend, OR. www.healingreins.org, a non-profit organization, and Horseplay of Fernley, NV. http://downshorseplay.googlepages.com "
The next two books are entertaining but more educational in nature. The first, No Bones About It, written by Bill Kirk and illustrated by Eugene Ruble, is a humorous look at the different bones in the body and why they are important. Written for ages 8-13, each page features a bone from the body with a short poem to help you remember that bone. It also has a "factoids" section with interesting facts about bones and a red box with a random bone pictured. At the end of the book you'll find a labeled skeleton to help you put all of the bones together, and then an unlabeled skeleton with a challenge to see how many of them you can remember. The author also has an "extra credit" challenge to go back and see if you can identify all of the bones that are pictured in the red boxes. This book would be an excellent addition to any biology study or study of the human body for an older child or just an intro to bones for a younger child. Although the publishers have an age range of 8-13 listed, I would use my discretion if I had a child on the lower end of that scale. Some of the pictures, although humorous, could be frightening to a more timid child. No Bones About It sells for $5.00 (pdf downloadable ebook), $9.95+SH (ebook on CD) or $10.95+SH (paperback book).
The last book I received was Earthquake!. Earthquake! is filled with fascinating facts about these wonders of nature as well as constrictive information on how to prepare for, how to live through, and how to survive after an earthquake. Written by Susan J. Berger and illustrated by Eugene Ruble, this book also contains "Factoids" throughout the book, but also includes wonderful maps, charts, lists, and instructions for learning about, putting together, or making almost anything that you can think of pertaining to earthquakes. It also includes experiments that help illustrate what an earthquake is like. This book would be helpful for anyone who wants to learn more about earthquakes, but especially for anyone living in an earthquake prone area. Earthquake! is recommended for readers ages 6-9 and sells $5.00 for the downloadable ebook, $9.95+SH for the ebook on CD, and $11.95+SH for the print book.
I really enjoyed the five books that were sent to me from Guardian Angel Publishing, and am looking forward to reading more from this company. One word of caution, the name of the company may be a bit deceiving. It does suggest that this company is a religious company. Although I found nothing objectionable in any of the books and they were very moral books, they also were not religious. There may be some books that they carry that are Christian oriented, but the five that were sent to me were not. Again, I want to express that I found nothing objectionable with any of them and encourage you to visit their website by clicking on any one of the highlighted areas above. Also, check out what the other TOS Crew members are saying by clicking here. Happy reading!
In my younger days, one of the many things that I wanted to be when I grew up was a forest ranger. I loved spending time in the outdoors just sitting and listening to nature sounds or exploring the woods. This led to reading encyclopedia articles about trees and nature. My sister saw my interest and one year sent me a subscription to a popular kid's nature magazine. I loved it! I read it cover to cover. Little did I know, however, that this magazine was very secular and, therefore, had a very secular world view. Thankfully, back in those days, this magazine didn't overtly emphasize these values. Nevertheless, occasionally something would be subtly added, so much so that I vowed, later in life, that I would never subscribe to this particular magazine for my children. I have searched high and low for a comparable Christian nature magazine that I could order for them but could never find one - until Nature Friend Magazine came along.
The TOS Homeschool Crew was sent the August and September editions of Nature Friend Magazine and it's separate study guide for free in order to review it on our blogs. This beautifully illustrated and well written magazine was everything that I could have ever wanted. The main magazine has wonderful articles that range from discussing insects, birds, reptiles or some type of mammal to talking about astronomy or doing an interesting experiment. Everything is written from a Christian creationist world view. They do not shy away from their beliefs!
But, fantastic pictures and great articles are only half of the magazine. It also includes fun puzzles that emphasize the things that are featured in the magazine. One of my favorites is the "Invisibles" picture puzzle. That's where smaller pictures are hidden in a large picture. Another similar monthly feature is the scavenger hunt where you have to find a small item that is hidden four or five times among the smaller pictures throughout the magazine. In various issues of Nature Friend you might find a crossword puzzle, a word find, or acrostic as well. There is even a "You Can Draw" section for your budding artist! This section gives step by step instructions on how to draw something from nature. They then invite you to send in your drawing to possibly be featured in an a future issue.
But, as if the regular magazine were not enough, they also offer a monthly "Study Guide" for a separate cost that is inserted into the monthly regular edition of the magazine. The eight page study guide has puzzles and exercises to reinforce what is featured in the regular magazine. It also has extra features that are perfect for a homeschooled student or one that is just fascinated with nature. "The Photo Critique" gives hints on taking great nature photographs, and "A Study In Nature A Lesson In Writing" encourages you to explore the outdoors and write about what you see, feel, hear, and smell. Again, everything is wonderfully written from a Godly point of view.
Although Nature Friend is a fascinating magazine by itself, we used it as a supplement to Joshua's science lessons. Since Joshua is studying reptiles right now, he loved the article about the snapping turtle caught in a fence, and, because we are avid bird watchers, the articles on owls and the story of the Weaverbird interested him. John Allen is also an avid fan of nature and loved perusing the magazines and reading the articles. Both of them love doing puzzles and the ones from Nature Friends were no exception. Joshua loves the picture searches and John Allen enjoys the more challenging puzzles.
According to the Nature Friend web page, the goal of the magazine is "Helping Children Explore the Wonder's of God's Creation". Here is what they say about the beginnings of the publication:
Nature Friend magazine, begun in 1983, was first published by the Stanley Brubaker family of Goshen, Indiana. It was born out of Mr. Brubaker's desire to encourage children to believe in God as their Creator and to seek out, recognize, and appreciate His handiwork.
This is one magazine that I hope to continue to subscribe to for a long time to come. Both the regular Nature Friend Magazine and the extra study guide are published 12 months out of the year. A year's subscription to the magazine is $36.00 while two year's is $68.00. The extra Study Guide is $24.00 for one year or $48.00 for two years. If you are unsure of the study guide, you can order it for one or two months before committing to a longer period.
Still not convinced? Go to the Nature Friend website by clicking here, or on any one of the highlighted areas above. The website has samples of the articles, puzzles and many other features from the magazine. You can view a few sample issues online or order the most current issue for $5.00. If you decide to subscribe, the $5.00 will be taken off of the subscription price. So, there really is nothing to lose. Don't wait, check out their website today! And, as usual, happy homeschooling!
Ok, maybe EDUDPS (Educational Diagnostic Prescriptive Services) can't turn your child into a spelling champ, or get them a perfect score on a college entrance test, or make them a millionaire author. But, EDUDPS has two programs that could sure help - Roots and Fruits, and Write With the Best - Vols. 1 & 2.
John Allen really liked Roots and Fruits. It's a very simple program that helps kids of all ages (even down to kindergarten!) increase their vocabulary by learning Greek and Latin roots and prefixes in just 15 minutes a day. On day one you introduce one or two roots or prefixes. One week we tried the roots amb/ambul - Latin for walk and aqua/aque - Latin for water. I simply wrote the roots and two vocabulary words for each root in large letters on a piece of paper that was to be posted on a wall the whole week. John Allen then had to look up the words, give two or three definitions, tell the parts of speech and identify whether the root was Latin or Greek. The next three days he reviewed the roots, meanings and vocabulary words, used them in sentences and completed one or two fun activities or games. On Friday we evaluated (again, using fun games) as to whether or not he knew the roots, meanings, and the vocabulary words and if he could properly use them in a sentence. All roots (over 670 of them), vocabulary words (1700+) and games are included in the book. But you may be asking, "Why do they even need to learn Greek and Latin roots. Read the next two examples to find out why.
Have you ever watched as a spelling bee champ asked what the root of a spelling word was. There is a reason for them asking. You see, someone may not know how to spell ambulance, but if they know that the root is the Latin word ambul - meaning: to walk then they will at least know that it starts with a-m-b-u-l!
At the same time a high school student may be taking the vocabulary part of the SAT. They've come to the word hypnagogic but they have no idea what it means. But, they learned that the root hypno means sleep, so they chose the answer -that state between being awake and falling asleep.
Now you might be asking, "Well what about the million dollar book deal?" Remember, I said that EDUDPS may not be able to make you a million dollars. But, they can help you to be an outstanding writer! Another great EDUDPS product is Write With the Best.
The unique thing about Write With the Best is that it uses the writings of great, classic authors to teach you how to improve your writing skills! Write With the Best does that by using a simple, systematic approach that includes exciting activities. Each unit discusses a specific genre of writing such as descriptive writing, writing a dialogue or writing a short story and takes about two weeks to complete. Day one you simply read over a passage using that specific genre. In the following days, you discuss what makes that passage so interesting, identify parts of speech - especially discriptive adjectives and adverbs, and practice writing a good paragraph in the same genre. You then analyze your paragraph in the same ways that you did the original author's writings. It is all very different than any writing program than I have seen, but really seems to work! Now I know that most of your children are not going to grow up to become authors, but consider the following scenario as a reason why they need to learn how to write good paragraphs.
Let's take our friend who is still laboring over the SAT. He has aced the vocabulary section, but now he is on the essay section. While many students may dread this, our high school friend has no problem. He has learned how to write a good paragraph so he is ready to excell at the essay questions as well.
The author of these two books, Jill J. Dixon, has a Master's of Education and has taught for over 20 years in the classroom and in a homeschool setting. It is her experience with underachieving students that led her to write these two curriculums and begin EDUDPS along with her husband.
I want to attest that I found that these two books were both a new and very refreshing ways to teach these subjects that can sometimes be boring and tedious. They are also very reasonably priced. Roots and Fruits sells for $14.98 for the ebook, $17.48 for an unbound printed copy, or $19.98 for a comb bound printed copy. Write With the Best-Vol. 1 is currently $19.95 for the ebook, $22.45 for the unbound and $24.95 for a three-ring binder printed edition. BUT, for a limited time only, all of their ebooks are 25% OFF. For this curriculum, I think that is a great value! EDUDPS sells many other helpful educational tools and evaluations and their website even has free downloads and free samples of their curriculum to evaluate. But, as usual, don't take my word for it, to check out the EDUDPS website yourself, just click here or on any one of the highlighted sections above. You can also check out some of the other TOS Crew members reviews by clicking here. This is one of those products that you don't have to be a homeschooler to use and benefit from. Any student could use a little help in these areas. As I have said many times, we may not all be homeschoolers, but we all educate our children in some ways at home. So, with that, I'll say - happy schooling!
Ok folks. That's just a catchy title to get you to read my post...or is it? For those of you who don't know what a lapbook is, let me fill you in. A lapbook is basically made up of two or three file folders put together. These file folders contain minibooks that center around one topic or theme. The whole thing can be held in your lap. Hence the name "Lapbook".
Still confused? Don't worry, you'll figure it out as we go along. I was confused as well until I saw a few. I thought that they were ingenious ideas and looked like fun to make, so I tried a couple last year with John Allen and Joshua. We attempted to make lapbooks based on the Olympics. I found John Allen's for free on the internet, and then did a simplified version for Joshua. The experience was OK. John Allen especially liked doing it, and Joshua humored me without too much complaint. We were open to trying it again, but had a couple of roadblocks. First off, once I made one, I realized that there was no way that I could be creative enough to do one on my own. Secondly, since we really couldn't afford to buy one of the great kits that various companies had for sale, another lapbook would have to wait until, well, one just fell into our laps (did I just say that ?) My impression was, OK, that was fun, but really, "Lapbooks, schmapbooks! Who needs 'em?".
Enter A Journey Through Learning. Boy am I glad that they decided to allow the TOS Homeschool Crew to review some of their products. I found out, in answer to my question, that we needed lapbooks. When you have one of those kids (like my son, Joshua) who's a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, hands on, learner, you find out that lapbooks are just the thing for them. I wasn't convinced with the first one that we did last year, but after using one of A Journey Through Learning's lapbooks, I am now more convinced than ever.
A Journey Through Learning was gracious enough to send us not one, not two, not even three or four, but five lapbooks to choose from to review. We only had to use one or two for this review and then we could keep the rest for later. Joshua and I chose to review their Reptiles Lapbook because it went along perfectly with another item that we are reviewing on the crew that you will hear about at a later date.
When you buy one of A Journey Through Learning's Lapbooks, they send you a full kit. Everything you need to do that particular lapbook is there - the study guide, the printed out templates, and, in some cases, even the file folders. They do, however, give you a couple of choices. You can use their outline and templates as starting points and do most of the research using books or the internet. Or, you can use their study guide which provides all of the information that you need. We chose the latter. Joshua isn't at the stage to do most of the research himself, and I need the structure of knowing what exactly to do and when to do it.
So far, we have learned about the three different types of reptiles and studied lizards, turtles, snakes and crocodiles including what they eat, how they defend themselves, how they look and more. We aren't quite done with our lapbook yet, so pictures of our completed lapbook will come later, but here is how the finished lapbook should look.
A Journey Through Learning has much more than science lapbooks. They also have history/social studies, holiday/seasonal, Bible/family, and preschool lapbooks. For those of you who might like to create your own lapbooks, they sell templates and organizers. For those of you who may not be into lapbooks at all, they also sell Unit Studies, copywork pages and notebooking pages. Their prices are quite reasonable as well. The lapbook that you see above, can be purchased one of three ways - Instant Download - $13.00, CD - $12.00 and Printed - $21.00. With the printed, you also get three colored folders, similar to the ones seen in the pictures. Other items vary in price.
Lapbooks may not be for everyone, but, so far they have worked for at least one of my unique learners. If you've not tried one yourself, A Journey Through Learning is a great place to start. For those of you who may not homeschool, why not look for one in a subject area that your child enjoys, especially if your child is a crafty type. They are great for home hobby projects and they would make perfect Christmas gifts! Remember, we are all home educators even if we aren't home schoolers. Have fun!
A couple of weeks ago I introduced you all to the new YouTube videos that our mission BCM International has put together. The first one that I posted was a ministry that is near and dear to our hearts, children's ministry. Another core ministry of BCM and also one that we are very involved with is evangelism. I hope this video gives you another insight as to what BCM is all about. As usual, if you have any questions about BCM or about our personal ministry here in Tennessee, please feel free to leave a comment or send us an email.
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Rainbow Sheep, written and illustrated by Kim Chatel, is an equally cute book. Rainbow Sheep is about the shepherdess Genevieve and her unique flock of sheep. After a few particularly rainy days, Genevieve decides to climb the tallest hill and tickle away the clouds only to find a very sad rainbow. In her usual friendly way, she cheers her newly found friend up and is in return given a special gift. Kim Chatel has creatively illustrated her book using the art of felting and has included in the back of her book the history of felting along with some felting crafts that your children can create with adult help. Written for readers 4 (read to age) to 10 (read alone) Rainbow Sheep can be purchased as a downloadable ebook ($5.00) an ebook on CD ($9.95+SH), a paperback book ($10.95+SH) or a book DVD ($9.95+SH). 
Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair, by Mary Jean Kelso, illustrated by K.C. Snyder is part of the Andy and the Albino Horse series. This series focuses on young Andy, a wheelchair bound boy, and his struggles with his disability. After going through equine therapy, Andy falls in love with an Albino horse by the name of Spirit. Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair, the second book in the series, is about the horse and boys first major riding competition at the Nevada State Fair. I would recommend this beautifully illustrated book to anyone who has a child with a disability or who would like to educate their child on disabilities. Although the Guardian Angel Press website has this book rated "for children of all ages (0-12)", I would recommend this book to children in the upper age range of that scale. Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair is sold for $5.00-downloadable ebook, $9.95+SH-ebook on CD, or $10.95-paperback book edition. The website lists the DVD book video edition coming soon for $9.95+SH. The website also states "A portion of the proceeds from this book are donated to Healing Reins of Bend, OR. www.healingreins.org, a non-profit organization, and Horseplay of Fernley, NV. http://downshorseplay.googlepages.com " 
The next two books are entertaining but more educational in nature. The first, No Bones About It, written by Bill Kirk and illustrated by Eugene Ruble, is a humorous look at the different bones in the body and why they are important. Written for ages 8-13, each page features a bone from the body with a short poem to help you remember that bone. It also has a "factoids" section with interesting facts about bones and a red box with a random bone pictured. At the end of the book you'll find a labeled skeleton to help you put all of the bones together, and then an unlabeled skeleton with a challenge to see how many of them you can remember. The author also has an "extra credit" challenge to go back and see if you can identify all of the bones that are pictured in the red boxes. This book would be an excellent addition to any biology study or study of the human body for an older child or just an intro to bones for a younger child. Although the publishers have an age range of 8-13 listed, I would use my discretion if I had a child on the lower end of that scale. Some of the pictures, although humorous, could be frightening to a more timid child. No Bones About It sells for $5.00 (pdf downloadable ebook), $9.95+SH (ebook on CD) or $10.95+SH (paperback book).
a-ok
?) My impression was, OK, that was fun, but really, "Lapbooks, schmapbooks! Who needs 'em?". 
lazy
