When we first started homeschooling, about 6 years ago, neither my oldest or I wanted to teach or learn Spanish – for various reasons.  Now, all three of my children like to learn it and it’s fun to teach it (and learn along) especially with a unit study concept of Spanish from Spanish for You! using the unit study concept makes the teaching easy and the learning fun – for all involved.  I was given Estaciones (Seasons) themed unit for my children and there is also Fiestas and soon there will be Viajas (travels).

This Spanish curriculum is for grades 3 through 8 but could be used for a younger child, if they already have some Spanish knowledge they could probably jump in at the grade 3 level.  I didn’t do this with my 6 year old though focusing mainly on my 11 year old and 8 year old daughters – working at the 4th and 6th grade levels.  One of the reasons this fit so perfectly with our family was that it can be used independently, so while I could chose to teach a lesson my daughter’s were able to look at what they needed to do on a given day and complete it without me needing to be with them at the time.

You’re probably wondering what do you get in your package – you’ll get enough material that covers 24 weeks for grades 5 to 8 and 27 weeks for grades 3 and 4, enough to cover an entire school year, if you school on a regular school schedule.  You’ll receive the:

• Spanish for You! book in hard copy (this contains games, lessons, and how to use the curriculum)
• audio downloads so that if you’d like you can listen to the whole book
• lesson guides for the grades you select (3-4, 5-6, 7-8, or all if chosen) in PDF format
• self checking worksheets for the above grades in PDF format
• flash card pictures (can be used for more than just flash cards)
• a native speaker recording the entire book audio.

If you’d like all the grades, great for families with multiple aged children and grades it will be $64.95 or you can select to purchase at grade level for $39.95, extra books are $12.95.  What I enjoyed about this is it is set up for four days a week, no tweaking needed from me to make it work for a four day a week schedule.  I loaded the lesson guides I needed onto my Fire so I could view what each girl needed – looking back I should have loaded Hannah’s lesson guide onto her Fire as well.  The girls shared the book using their own lesson guide, by accessing my Kindle and seeing what they needed to complete for each day.

As an example Week One Day 1 had Bethanne (4th grade) practice asking and answering a question in Spanish, reading page 1 with audio, do learning your new vocabulary on page 1 in book, make flashcards and play the optional games.  My children enjoyed the games – however they often played them among themselves as I saw them as optional (as listed) but they enjoy the repetition.  When the worksheets need to be completed it is noted on the day that it needs to be done.  Since the worksheets are self checking it meant I had time to look over other work that my three had completed during the day.

The author does stress that the lessons need to be done in order, as they each build on the other however, you can tweak it as needed – if you’d like to stretch each day into two, allowing for more time for the games – do so.  That means each week will be made into two, and this may be what a younger child or one who isn’t quite confident in learning a new language needs.  If you do school five days a week simply use Friday as a time to do games not done during the week and review their vocabulary flashcards and practice their sentences and answering.  We are continuing to enjoy our Spanish for You! Estaciones curriculum, and it’s affordable for any family size.  You can view some sample pages of Estaciones or check out the free mini lessons and free worksheets available at Spanish for You!

My husband gave me a combo pack of DVD’s which had Les Miserables (one of my all time favorite books, yes, I’ve read it in it’s entirety and musicals) and it came with Mama Mia (of which I’ve never seen and Hannah and I decided the reason it was paired with Les Mis was because they share an actress).  The children gave me a Tim Horton’s gift card.  Bethanne made me a card and a bracelet as did Christian.

Front of the card from all three children.

Inside of the card from the children – for some reason Christian signed his name upside down

Front of the card from hubby.

Inside of the card and he signed it with my secret name for him.

I’ll take some pictures of the handmade cards and bracelets and post those in a little bit – but I just have to say it was nice to sit and read for awhile yesterday, even finishing one book and almost finishing another and take a nap.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to church because it seems one child or another is coughing – more than likely allergies or a seasonal cold – but I didn’t want to take chances since there are quite a bit of elderly who attend our church.

I enjoy reading books that have gems of inspiration in them, especially when those gems comes from the generation before or are written by a loved one who is carrying on those messages and in Papa’s Pearls: A Father’s Gift of Love and Wisdom to His Children and Grandchildren by Diane Flynn Keith that is what the reader gets.  Just over 100 pages in 17 short chapters (approximately 5 to 6 pages each) this book is a quick read and one that is inspirational and enjoyable.  I will admit to having been able to read this in about 2 hours – but I won’t let it go at that, I’ll be re-reading some of the chapters to myself and some out loud to my children.

The back of the book says:  “Papa’s Pearls: A Father’s Gift of Love and Wisdom To His Children and Grandchildren is an engaging and uplifting memoir that tells the story of how the author’s father transformed his own life as a Depression Era street kid on a fast track to prison, to become the archetype of a successful self-made man who was also a loving father.  The nurturing customs, practical advice, and life success principles (learned through the school of hard knocks) that he imparted to his children and grandchildren are a prescription for how to live a happy, productive and meaningful life.”

While this book does not come from a Christian worldview, nor is God mentioned except for maybe once in passing – the book is great for both Believers and non-believers, as the truths in the book are true and worthwhile.  I had originally planned to read this aloud to my three children ages 11, 8 and 6 however I kept feeling like I should read it myself first, and I’m glad I did.  There were a couple cuss words, which I admit did take me by surprise but I’m glad to know that they are there so I can skip over them when I do read this aloud to my children.  There are many concepts covered in the 17 chapters such as getting back up when you fall/fail, tell yourself you like it no matter how much you really dislike it (cleaning bathrooms?), hugs and even exercise – along with much more!  This little book packs a big punch.

A lot of this book spoke to me in how to relate not just to my children, but to other family, my husband, friends as well as those in public – and work ethic.  The only chapter that I think I had to out right disagree with was on street smarts, mainly because while the author and her dad lived in a different time and a child could run around their neighborhood or city with a friend on sibling and be fine – that isn’t the case today.  I’m not a ‘helicopter parent’ but I also can’t send my children out by themselves with the amount of people who prey on children are in my neighborhood.  Otherwise, I found this book a nice little gem which will find it’s place on my bookshelf – one chapter that I loved was the back rub – two of my children love to have their backs rubbed and I don’t do it often enough so it’s sort of sparked something in me to do it more.

If you’d like to get your own copy of this inspirational little book for yourself or your family you can purchase it at Papa’s Pearls for $21.97 ($14.97 for the book and $7.00 for shipping) and it will be personally autographed by the author herself.   As well, if you’d like to read what other homeschool parents thought about this book be sure to check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

1.  It seems my children are fighting more than usual and being generally disagreeable.  It’s driving me bonkers – I’ve been reading The Christian Parenting Handbook but it seems all I’ve been doing is yelling this week.  Advice?

2.  We are going to the zoo tomorrow with my mom, well maybe – if #1 keeps continuing I may just cancel it – how’s that for Mother’s Day?

3.  Contrary to what you may think about #1 and #2 I really do love my children and enjoy being around them but it seems they go through spurts where they fight constantly.  Some would say it’d be easier to go to work or put them in school, but then I’d just have more training and re-training to do after all the bad they’d get for 8+ hours.

4.  My lilac bush – I know it doesn’t seem big or why it would even warrant mentioning in a blog post BUT, my mother in law bought it for me about 5 years ago for Mother’s Day and it has never bloomed until now!  This year it finally bloomed and I’m so happy!

5.  Morels.  Yep, mushrooms.  As we were looking at my lilacs and tulips we noticed, or better yet my children noticed some odd, never before seen mushrooms growing around the flowers – my  first thought was of my friend so after we began finding more (I think were 10 or 11 plus more that had been destroyed in our lawn mowing) and she said bring them out.  So I picked them and sure enough they were morel mushrooms!  I posted on FB and was surprised by the response – I had no idea what a commodity these things are – so now we’ll be more careful.  BTW my friend enjoyed them with her family.

About the Book:

Pride goes before the fall . . . but what comes after?

You may purchase the book on Amazon.

About Sarah Ladd:

Sarah E. Ladd has more than ten years of marketing experience. She is a graduate of Ball State University and holds degrees in public relations and marketing. Heiress of Winterwood was the recipient of the 2011 Genesis Award for historical romance. Sarah lives in Indiana with her amazing husband, sweet daughter, and spunky Golden Retriever.

Learn more about Sarah at her website.

My Opinion:

Well, I don’t know where to begin with telling you about this book – because honestly this book was really good.  As the reader enters the world of Amelia, who is an heiress, one would expect her to be selfish and catered to but that simply isn’t.  I liked the fact that Amelia was a strong female character but not overbearing and still realizes that at times she does need a man’s protection – enter Lucas, a ship captain and father of Lucy.  Since Lucy’s mom died in childbirth – Amelia has been caring for her with the help of a nurse (common practice back then).

Amelia is engaged to another man who will not let her keep Lucy, but she promised Lucy’s mom, her friend, that she would always care for her daughter.  Amelia proposes to Lucas – unheard of as well, but while the engagement to one is broken and another is promised we begin to see the character’s real personalities come out.  Her original betrothed shows his true colors by becoming physically violent and creating havoc within the family and for Amelia, Lucas and Lucy in particular.

Both characters struggle with knowing where God is in all the turmoil – and thankfully both Lucas and Amelia have godly mentors that help them in seeing what God is doing.  I won’t tell you the whole story – because you really will enjoy reading it for yourself.  There is suspense and some twists you won’t expect – but there is no risque hanky-panky going on in this book which makes it a good read for the Christian who prefers to not read gratuitous romance scenes.

About the book:

Nuggets of parenting wisdom condensed into 50 short chapters, each one biblical, practical, and relevant for parents of children ages 2-18. Learn appropriate ways to correct, instruct, and set limits. Glean wisdom for dealing with emotions, conflict, and developing closeness in your family… and much more. These 50 strategies provide you with hands-on tools for parenting children of any age.

You will learn
• A practical tool to stop children’s arguing
• How to separate firmness from harshness
• A strategy to help children change their hearts
• Ways to teach kids to add energy to family life
• Solutions for sibling conflict
• The relational side of parenting
• What to do when parents don’t agree
• How to help kids who are blamers
• and much more

The Christian Parenting Handbook is more than an idea book. It’s a tool for integrating scripture and practical strategies that helps you develop a biblical philosophy of parenting based on your parenting style.

Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN are the co-founders of the National Center for Biblical Parenting and Biblical Parenting University. They teach parenting seminars most weekends a year and have also trained 115 presenters to teach parenting seminars on their behalf. They’ve written several books on parenting, have created three video training programs, and send out free email parenting tips each week. Learn more about the authors HERE.

If you purchase this book at your local Christian bookstore on May 10th or 11th you will be eligible for $400 worth of free gifts – find out by visiting Buy The Book.

My Opinion:

I have to say that this is definitely one of the best ‘parenting handbooks’ that I’ve read in a long time – it’s not preachy but at the same time uses beloved Scripture to import practical and important Biblical truths about parenting.  The Christian Parenting Handbook should be one of the books that you keep on your bookshelf, or like me, on your e-reading tablet – there was so much truth to be found and convicted me on several aspects of my parenting.  I will admit, I am still reading this book – there are so many truths and ideas to try to implement that it’s not a book you read in one sitting and forget – there is much to ruminate over and actually put to use.

I’m a mom who often resorts to yelling – I hate that – and this book has given me some things to think on about how to approach my children differently so I don’t have to yell, or at least, as much.  The one chapter that got me thinking “uh-oh” was the one titled “To Spank or Not to Spank” because it’s a hot topic and I appreciated the authors not taking a stance one way or the other, except to say you shouldn’t spank out of anger – how many of us are guilty of that?  The authors recognize that different children will need different ways of punishment, taking privileges away from one may not work for the other – and so they leave it up to us, the parents to decide how we need to approach our children.

I have to say that I think the reason why I like the book is that it’s written in a conversational style versus a textbook or do-what-I-say way, it makes it relevant to me.  Also, I appreciated the fact that the authors know that we are our children’s parents, not them, not our neighbors, but us – it’s ultimately going to be up to us to make the decisions (hopefully with a lot of guidance from the Lord and His Word) on how to parent these blessings.  Have I agreed with everything?  No.  The authors aren’t expecting every reader to agree with everything, but to take away something practical so that in the end we’ve raised children who love and serve the Lord because they’ve seen Jesus through us.

A bit touristy but we had the whole ride to ourselves so it was well worth the cost to do it.  There were even some surprises through out that made the children jump.

Christian and Hannah up front in the boat before we enter the ride.

One of the dinosaurs that actually feel like it’s going to come down into the boat.

Bethanne sitting next to Don and I before we enter.

Another dinosaur picture.

After the ride, it was getting late and we were all tired from driving all day so we went back to the hotel room to get some shut eye – we had dinner before at one of the two IHOP’s in Pigeon Forge – and get ready for an early morning!  Next up I’ll tell you about our adventures aboard the Titanic.

I was so very excited to review the Phonics and Reading with McGuffey App through Literacy Soft.  What intrigued me about this App is that it has 52 lessons that my children to help my son with his phonics skills and I thought it’d be a fun way for him to get stronger in his reading skills learned so far.  The App will work on Apple devices (iPod/iPad), Mac and PC’s – so there are options available for those who may not have mobile devices or don’t want their children using their mobile device.  All three versions are available for $19.99 and if you’d like to try before you buy – the first 10 lessons are available through the Lite version.

I was given the app for my iPod Touch, and let me son play with it, even setting up my own user account so I could play along without affecting my son’s level and learning.  Up to 10 students can be added, which makes it great if you have multiple children – although the app is also geared for adults, dyslexic, and ESOL students, as well as homeschoolers.  I set it up for my son and I and we began playing – no Wi-fi connectivity is needed, which is great so we were able to play/learn while in the van or while waiting in line somewhere.

I had my son work through some lessons during the review period as it lined up quite nicely with his current phonics work – but it made it seem less like school and more like a game, which for boys is great!  I had him start at the beginning with lesson 1 even though he might have been able to start with lesson 2 or 3 but I also wanted to make sure he has a good grasp of his sounds before jumping around too much.  His complaints were the length of time it took the app to actually open – it doesn’t open immediately like other apps and while it does open in under a minute it does take a “long time” for a 6 year old boy.  His other complaint was the voice was ‘robotic’ sounding which made it sound slower – and his brain seems to work faster so he’d select an answer before a sound or word was out and get upset that he got it wrong.

If I could get him to take the time to listen instead of being in such a hurry, this app would be great.  I think it would also be beneficial if there was a way to change the speed – for a child who needs a slower pace then the way it’s set up is perfect, but for a child or adult who needs a faster pace it would be great to be able to change the settings depending on the user’s needs.  It would also be nice if the user could chose a male or female voice – I’ve noticed that my son responds differently to voices depending on if they are male or female, so that could also be a factor in how he reacted to this app.

I will be continuing to use this app in conjunction with his phonics and reading – as I said above it’s great to be able to practice his skills while waiting in line at the grocery, on a long car trip or if he needs a quiet distraction (headphones come in handy with this app) but he is still learning.  The full color graphics make it fun and delightful  and does keep the user engaged while learning a life long skill.  I would definitely suggest this app to others who are looking for a way to introduce phonics, to teach or even to use as an aid in reading.  If you’re wondering what else this app has:

• All 52 McGuffey Primer lessons
• All 44 letter sounds of English and their graphemes
• 60+ letter sound animations
• 400+ practice word vocabulary
• 9000+ nonsense word audio dictionary

This is a very good app, one that is in depth in it’s fun as well as it’s educational value.  I’m even considering letting my 8 year old daughter who sometimes still struggles with some words play with this app using a higher lesson to give her more confidence in her reading skills.  There is much potential for anyone who uses this app, but don’t take my word for it – go read what other homeschool parents had to say about the Literacy Soft app at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

About the Book:

Book 1 in the Thoene’s new Jerusalem Chronicles.

 Lazarus occupies a surprising position in the Gospel accounts. Widely known as the man Jesus raised from the dead, his story is actually much broader and richer than that. Living as he did at Bethany, near Jerusalem, Lazarus was uniquely placed to witness the swirl of events around Jesus. When Jesus Wept, the first novel in The Jerusalem Chronicles series by bestselling authors Bodie and Brock Thoene, unfolds the turbulent times in Judea during Jesus‘ ministry, centering on the friendship between Jesus and Lazarus. With rich insights from vineyard owners and vine dressers, the Thoenes explore the metaphor of Jesus as the True Vine, harvesting the ancient secrets found in the Old Testament. Weaving the life of Lazarus, who owned a vineyard, into the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ will help you understand it is the hand of Love Divine that holds the knife, that cuts and breaks with such tender and loving touch, and that we who have born some fruit, after the pruning, can bear much more.

You can buy the book at Amazon.

About Bodie and Brock Thoene:

Bodie and Brock Thoene (pronounced Tay-nee) are bestselling authors of over sixty-five works of historical fiction. Their timeless classics have sold more than thirty-five million copies and won eight ECPA Gold Medallion Awards. The Thoenes have four grown children and eight grandchildren. They divide their time between Hawaii, London, and Nevada.

You can find out more by going to their website.

My Opinion:

We’ve heard the story of Mary and Martha – the OCD and the calm sisters, we know they were Lazarus, you know?  the guy Jesus raised from the dead and actually cried over.  Bodie and Brock have written a story that brings to life these people from the Bible and gives them more of a story – without taking away  from what is in Scripture they weave a story that pulls us into just how did Jesus know Lazarus and his sisters, and how well did He know them?  Now, I have to say I’m not sure if Mary, the one in the dirt accused and guilty of adultery was actually the same Mary, the sister of Lazarus – but it could be possible?

Regardless, I loved reading about how things might have actually gone and how the Biblical story weaves together in real life – how did Jesus know Lazarus and his sisters?  It seems as if everyone knew everyone, and I guess if you’re a persecuted population you would tend to stick with your own ‘kind’ – someone is getting married, no matter how distant a relative you’re going to be there.  Lazarus is coming out of mourning his wife and his baby’s death at the beginning of the story and then at the end is rejoicing in the fact that one day he will be with them forever.  The only part of the book, that I found, a little far fetched was when Lazarus is dead and the reader is given a glimpse of Lazarus meeting his deceased parents, then his son – who is not a baby but in a glorified body of a man and then lastly his wife – before Jesus commands him to rise.

Overall, the historical fiction book – the first I’ve read by the Thoene’s has left me readily willing to find their other books and eagerly awaiting book #2 in this series – which I’m thinking will encompass Jesus’ death and resurrection.  If you like historical fiction, especially those based on Biblically true stories then you’ll more than likely enjoy When Jesus Wept, as I did – so make sure to check it out – and enter the world in which our Christian fore bearers lived.

It goes without saying that my children and I enjoy doing lapbooks and doing hands-on projects in our homeschool and when Home School in the Woods came on board as one of the vendors for the Review Crew – I knew I had to get my hand on one of the products being offered.  One thing I’m usually remiss in teaching is music and composers so my first choice was the Hands-On Activity Pack on the Composers – and I’m so glad that is what I was given.  This activity pack sells for $18.95 in download version or $19.95 for the CD version and it’s geared for grades 3 through 8th, but as always I also had my then 1st grader working alongside his older sisters.

I chose to do the in depth version of the hands-on activity pack, which meant before we got started I searched several libraries for books, CD’s and movies in which to really delve into the study of the composers.  There are 42 composers covered in this study – Guido of Arezzo, Mozart,Liszt, Cui, Grieg, Amy Beach, Gershwin, Bernstein and more!  Of course, we have our favorites in this house, namely Beethoven, Vivaldi, Mozart and Bach – but we didn’t really know anything about them, so this has and is continuing to prove to be a great study on the composers and their music.  I’m now a fan of Guido of Arezzo who is a Middle Ages composer from Italy and was a Benedictine Monk – his music seems quite holy and reverent as well as relaxing.

Each of the composers has their own mini book – you can see by my picture that I used different colored papers to signify different time periods such as Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist and 20th Century or Modern periods.  After cutting out the mini books we cut out the composer’s picture with name and glued it to the front of the mini book and filled in the information such as year of birth, year of death, country, period of music and compositions and interesting facts.  We did this portion while listening to a piece of the composer’s music – there are 29 pieces of music included in MP3 format with the activity pack.  I had no trouble finding more pieces by doing an internet search or by using the library.  After filling in the composer’s information I read a book, either a short picture book version or full length chapter book – depending on what I had on hand – so that we could better understand the composer’s life.

Vocabulary, lift the flaps to learn what terms mean such as pitch, waltz, madrigal, forte and more.

Instead of using file folders, due to space limitations in our house I had my children add the mini books and activities to their spiral bounded scrapbooks – these keeps everything together and saves on space.  I use those clips that can be obtained at office supply stores to clip on the vocabulary page as well as the musical pages where we listened to a piece and then told the title, composer, period, interesting facts about the piece being listened to and then each child drew a picture of what that piece made them feel.  This was fun and it was interesting to see how each of my children felt differently about the pieces – some felt anger while another felt peace – all from listening to the same piece.

The periods of music book and pieces with a purpose activity.

I think the two activities that mine enjoyed the most were the periods of music book which looks like a music book on a music stand and explains the different periods of music.  This was fun to put together and informative, especially since most tend to view all music as Classical, but they are truly different and doing this study has allowed us to hear how each period’s music sounded so differently from the next.

The next one was the Pieces with a Purpose activity.  This one was fun because each one was made to look like something from that period – like modern pieces was made to look like a personal CD player and inside there is information about modern music used for the entertainment area – like the “King and I” or “Gone With the Wind”.  Music that celebrate national pride is symbolized by a crown and American nationalist music is an American flag, the opera information looks like an opera play bill – and so on.

The above mentioned books laid out for display.

Also included is a timeline – this was interesting to put together so that we could all see how each composer followed the next – and it was interesting that some composers used the previous one’s knowledge and improved on it or completely did their own ‘thing’ with their music.  It folds out so that all time periods can be viewed at once or folded to only focus on one period at a time – I will say this took quite a bit of paper and tape to put together but was well worth it when it’s completed.

We are still working on our composer activity pack since I’ve chosen to go more in depth with it and I’d like to note that this isn’t just a lapbook – also included are cards with pictures of some composers with their information and these can be used as a matching game, several ideas are given depending on how you decided to print the cards out.  There is also an Orchestra Seating folder that shows children how an orchestra was organized during four different time periods, allowing them to ‘see’ how an orchestra grew and changed over the years to add other instruments as they became invented.  Like the rest of the activity pack these two components are also highly hands-on and informative, good for the visual and tactile learners in your home.

The time line.

The directions for printing and assembly are included as well as beautifully, colored images of completed activities so that you and your child can see how each activity is put together and where it goes.  The directions for assembly are also illustrated so putting everything together should go smoothly – I simply left up the assembly document on my PC or used my Kindle Fire – so that I’d have all directions on hand as we went through putting together our activity pack.  You don’t have to feel like you have to as in depth as I did and am doing with this, it’s good for both a basic overview or for a family who wants to make this a longer process.

If you’d like to read how other families used this and other products from Home School in the Woods visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

**If any of my pictures continue to be sideways or upside down, I apologize, I’ve worked at getting them right side up but for whatever reason they are still appearing very awkward in my review.  Again, I apologize.