Author: Grace-Filled Writer

Children’s Books from Applewood Books: Review and Giveaway!!!!

Grace-Filled Writer

Primary Source Material…This phrase became part of my vocabulary as I started realizing my homeschooling method actually had a name: Charlotte Mason. I wouldn’t say I completely subscribe to all aspects of this teaching style, but living books in particular have captured my heart. Applewood Books is a company dedicated to publishing primary source material. Because so many of these books are older, they can be very hard to find. I’m was thrilled to have the opportunity to review an assortment. The best news is one blessed reader of mine will receive one of these three books (of their choice) from Applewood Books!

Hello America! by Marth Day Zschock is  an absolutely darling little story in board book form. So many topics of American heritage are covered in this sweet book it is sure to instantly ignite curiosity in your littlest learner. The illustrations are colorful and captivating, sure to keep the pages turning! Although Applewood Books focuses primarily on older books, there are some new series being published such as these board books.

Beth and Grace read this together and enjoyed every page! I love hearing Beth read to Grace. She puts great emotion into everything she reads and enjoys learning with her younger sister. Grace said she really liked the baby eagle, and I don’t blame her. Isn’t that eaglet the cutest!?!

In Words of One Syllable books were a popular way to teach young readers in the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s. They were the next step after basic phonics instruction. While not all of the words in these books are actually one syllable, any word has multiple syllables is broken syllabically to make reading easier. Two of our history books for 2nd grade were written in this style and I very much enjoyed them with my daughters.

The History of The United States by Josephine Pollard is a reprinting of a book originally published in 1884. Beth just finished Kindergarten and is reading on a upper 2nd grade-early 3rd grade level. While some words were more difficult, she read this fairly easily and enjoyed the stories. Some may say they are old-fashioned, but I disagree. The word usage feels a little bit more formal, buy my daughter’s vocabulary has increased after lots of informal definitions in response to many, “What does that mean?” moments. It is also nice for my girls to be able to read history on their own and the living books style used in these children’s history books is excellent.

A Yankee Girl in Fort Sumter, by Alice Curtis and originally published in 1920, is a fictional story set in South Carolina just before the Civil War. Sylvia is from Boston and she has many adventures after moving Charleston. The south is a different world for a northern girl encountering slavery. This delightful story was written to engage young girls with history, something Alice Curtis did very well with her books.

Rose enjoyed this book although she isn’t quite through with it yet.  It is written in a style typical of the early 20th century, which I personally love, but is a little harder for her to stay excited about yet. She just finished 2nd grade and is reading on a high 5th to low 6th grade level, but the word usage and sentence structure are not what she is used to at this point. Even though this has not been an easy book for her to read I think it is important to introduce literature written in a more classic style early on in a child’s education. Without this introduction other literature great literature they will read by the likes of Mark Twain and Charles Dickens will be more difficult. This sweet story will also serve well as a read aloud to children.

Applewood Books is a company I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these last several weeks. I have a heart for great literature and many of my favorite authors are from last century and before. This company is actively pursuing and distributing quality, classic literature for future generations to enjoy.

I can’t wait to see who gets blessed by this giveaway! 

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Disclaimer
I received the three books reviewed in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

FREE Book Friday with Master Books!

Grace-Filled Writer

I’m so excited to host FREE Book Friday for Master Books (a division of New Leaf Publishing) this week! I have come to rely on this company to teach me truth as I have slowly come to understand my grade school education was filled with the errors of evolution. I’ve been slowly creating a Creation library for our family and have has the Answers Books on my wish list!

I’m so excited to give you the opportunity to win The Answers Book 2 by Ken Ham. I have learned so much as I read this. I knew no matter what my teachers told me, evolution was incorrect. What I struggled with was the absolute certainty many of them presented their so-called facts with. I was also completely unaware of the evolutionary teaching permeating so many other subjects…history, humanities, and even literature were frequently impacted by this false teaching. This book presents factual evidence which systematically breaks down all of the errors in evolution.

I appreciate that Ken Ham states up front that unless you start with the assumption the Bible is 100% accurate, you will not agree with this book. At the same time he presents compelling scientific arguments and facts which cannot logically be disputed. I was especially fascinated with the chapter which dicussed Stanley Millers experiments which resulted in the creation of amino acids in a laboratory. I was appalled to learn what I had been taught was absolute fact is in reality highly suspect evidence at the very least. The true results of this experiment as presented in the book in fact prove more for creation than evolution. How blessed I have been to read truth and arm myself with knowledge so I can discuss the topic of creation vs. evolution intelligently.

I wish everyone could win, but since this isn’t possible make sure to add this series to your wishlist for your own library!

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Disclaimer
I received The New Answers Book 2 in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

All About Spelling $50 Giveaway!

Grace-Filled Writer

I’ve raved over All About Spelling from All About Learning Press in many of my posts. I honestly can’t say enough good things about it!

I came into homeschooling being labeled as a “poor speller” and it caused me great concern. It didn’t matter that I graduated from high school 10th in my class of 405, or that I entered college with 18 course credits from my AP classes or that I excelled in college and graduated magna cum laude with my degree in middle grades education. None of that mattered. I had been told early on in my education that I was a poor speller and I just needed to study harder. I did study. I studied a lot. Spelling was still hit or miss with me. No matter how had I tried this was my main struggle in elementary school and I dreaded the yearly spelling bees since I rarely made it past the first round just within my classroom!

What a relief when middle school came and spelling was no longer required! It was also about that time that computers were becoming more main-stream and they included spell-checker, so I basically gave up trying. Why should I try when I had basically been told I wasn’t going to ever increase my spelling ability? The irony of it all was that my reading level was much higher than most of my peers. I was told high level readers usually translated into high level spellers. So what was wrong with me?

No one ever taught me the rules. Rules? There are rules for spelling? Except for “i before e except after c (and a bunch of exceptions we don’t have a rule for)” I don’t remember learning any rules. All About Spelling has changed my entire understanding of this subject. I searched it out when my oldest, an excellent reader, was clearly not transitioning to spelling easily. Rather than giving up, I started researching. I prayed for wisdom then scoured the internet, read numerous catalogs, and asked veteran homeschooling moms their recommendation. I settled on All About Spelling and haven’t looked back!

Since then spelling has only become more and more fun! Here is an update on my two girls using All About Spelling…
Beth…

Beth finished up her Kindergarten year a little over half-way through All About Spelling Level 1. I could have pushed her a little faster because she loved it and it seemed easy, but I chose to do only 1 lesson about every 2 weeks, practicing just a little bit each day. This worked well for her and I plan to up the pace a bit in the fall. She’ll continue some through the summer to guarantee retention. 
Something knew we tried and love is spelling using alphabet stamps in addition to the tiles. I try to switch ti up for fun. I always use the tiles for teaching and the first set of words we work on, but I try to switch it up some after that. 
Another unexpected benefit for Beth has been improvement in handwriting. She really wanted to use a traditional notebook like her sister and in doing so, her handwriting has started becoming more mature. What a fun transformation to see this year! 
Rose…

Rose finished up 2nd grade and I am thrilled with her progress. We are about 1/4 the way through level 3 and will also continue during the summer. She used to ask me how to spell very short words she should not have a problem with, she now rarely asks how to spell anything, or tries it first and then just asks me to check it. I have also caught her making her own corrections. This is HUGE! She would frequently flip 2 letters and now she is seeing it. What a blessing All About Spelling has been for her! She especially likes finding Silent E in words and deciding which rule it follows. 
She also really enjoys using the homophones book. It is divided into grade-level appropriate practice. She has only done a few of the pages, but she now quickly recognizes homophones.
Although we do uses the tiles for teaching, Rose never uses them for spelling practice now. It is faster for her to write and since she likes that better it is fine with me! She also has improved her cursive as a result. The transition for a student from copying cursive to writing their own words can sometimes be tricky. All About Spelling has been a good medium to make this transition. We still have some work to do here, but she’s definitely well on her way! 
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

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Moving Beyond The Page: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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Good literature should inspire deeper learning. I have found this to be true of my daughters. When they read a good book, they are inspired to learn more. While my girls seem to naturally lean towards this tendency my experience full-time in the classroom has shown me not all children do. Moving Beyond the Page provides unique unit studies which provide interdisciplinary learning. For those who follow a delight-directed learning path there are so many options from which to choose!

The two units we reviewed covered Helen Keller and learning about sound. These two units were beautifully constructed to engage young learners in a way that makes the learning which occurs deeper and more comprehensive. The connections made between the science of hearing to Helen Keller’s story will last in my daughter’s mind for a long time.

The Helen Keller online unit is $22.87 and the Sound hard copy unit is $37.99. Both units were for the 7-9 year old age range, and there are materials available for ages 5-14 on the website. Each unit came with the needed literature and any hands-on supplements needed. Units vary in price based on the literature used and supplements which come with the unit. Each unit is intended to last around 1 month of learning and all literature units coincide with science and/or social studies. You can see and print sample curriculum by clicking here. Also available on the website are suggestions for reading and math so in essence you can find all you need to start homeschooling at Moving Beyond the Page!

My daughter really enjoyed reading Who Was Helen Keller? She knew of Helen Keller from a previous biography we read, but this one was much more engaging. I like that as we finished a portion I could check I had completed it online. I would have preferred an option of having the unit as entirely a pdf file as I don’t typically like to have the computer out during our instruction time. The worksheets were available as a pdf, but the lesson instructions were not.

Rose’s favorite activity was at the very beginning. She had to do some everyday tasks blindfolded and ears covered. I also put cotton balls in her ears. Although it wasn’t exactly like being deaf and blind, it gave her a small idea of what it was like for Helen Keller. This was such a fun way to start out the unit!

Another activity we used to learn sign language was a sign language DVD we already owned. We talked about how much harder it was for Helen since she could not see or hear.

So much is included in the unit. Fun activities, spelling, vocabulary and comprehension questions make up an excellent literature study which includes so much to make the learning experience fun!

Rose’s daddy helped her put together the 3D ear model included in the sound unit. This was not something she could have done on her own, but she did enjoy being part of the process.

The activities and information included in the sound unit for science were very enjoyable for my daughter. She learned how the ear works, how sound travels, and more! The hard-copy of this unit was beautifully bound so that just seeing the cover inspired my daughter to want to start learning right away. Also included was a biography about Alexander Graham Bell who we had not studied yet.

There were many worksheets, activities, and experiments included to aid in learning about sound and the human ear. Rose enjoyed making a musical instrument with her friend who had come over for the day. The girls worked diligently to make their homemade guitars just right.


They carried their instruments around all day and played all sorts of great music!

I like the combination of science with literature in order to engage learning. While I don’t typically use a unit study approach, I do like this for our summer studies. I have never combined a literature study with science before and I really liked doing so. It is so very important that my girls understand how all of life is incorporated together, not individual pockets of information. I love the many connections Rose made doing a literature and science study cohesively. .

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AM-PM PraiseMoves: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

In college I had several Christian friends who have tried to encourage me to try out Yoga. I have always been hesitant because I know the roots of Yoga are in the Hindu religion. I know many people who say you can practice Yoga and avoid all the religious stuff, but for me the connection between the two gave me pause and I chose not to participate. I was fairly active anyway taking hikes and walking around campus so I wasn’t too concerned about adding in exercise.

Fast forward 11 years… 3 babies later I needed to start exercising! 

The problem was I hadn’t been able to exercise for some time. For the previous 2 years I had been steadily loosing weight without any reason. An unexpected emergency surgery over Christmas revealed a tumor growing in my stomach which gave explanation, but before this my doctor said I needed to stop all exercise since I couldn’t stop losing weight. So for about 2 years I had done little besides my regular housework. After the 2 month mark of recovery my doctor encouraged me to start exercising again. That was a challenge! She suggested Yoga, but again my heart was prompted not to go this route. 

I have been using AM-PM PraiseMoves for about 6 weeks and through Praise Moves I have found exercise I actually look forward to doing! Unlike my marathon-running husband, high intensity work-outs are not for me. The low-impact style of PraiseMoves leaves me feeling energized. The benefits have piled up daily and I can’t say enough wonderful things about PraiseMoves!

Laurette Willis’ personal testimony of her search for truth after being immersed in yoga from a young age is a beautiful example of the redeeming work of Christ. As a result of her personal journey she develped PraiseMoves, a Christian alternative to Yoga, not to be confused with other programs which call themselves Christian Yoga. All of the postures and movements are grounded in and inspired by Scripture or the Hebrew alphabet. While you are practicing the postures Scripture appears on the screen and is read to you. What an affirming exercise program!


The AM-PM PraiseMoves Dvd includes two workouts, one to start the morning and one to close the day. The morning routine is more energetic than the evening routine. Laurette guides with clear instructions how to stand in the various postures. Because she dresses very modestly I felt comfortable exercising in front of my husband, something no other exercise video I have used allowed me to do.

I mentioned before I have received daily benefits from PraiseMoves. The first was a complete night’s sleep, something I hadn’t experienced in a long time. When my oldest daughter was born almost 8 years ago I experienced the constant wakings expected from a newborn, but this disruption in sleep continued for me long after my daughter started sleeping through the night. For years I have consistently awakened 2-3 times in the middle of the night and typically have a difficult time going back to sleep. The first night after using PraiseMoves I slept soundly and felt more rested than I had in a very long time. I attribute this partly to exercise, but mostly to dwelling on Scripture as I exercised. What a wonderful way to close the day!

Another benefit I have received is more energy to be active. My surgery required me to be incredibly inactive while my incision and muscles healed. Getting back to even basic activity was a challenge, let alone being regularly active with my kids walking or bike riding. After about a week of PraiseMoves I told my very surprised husband I wanted to go on a bike ride around the neighborhood. I didn’t go very far, and I certainly didn’t ride very fast, but I went and enjoyed it!

The final benefit has been increased flexibility and lack of pain in my back. When we were camping last summer I hurt my back slightly while helping my husband set up our tent. It was a very small sore spot my doctor told me was a muscle issue which couldn’t be helped without extensive physical therapy. At the same time she said unless it was preventing me from living a normal life, it wasn’t absolutely necessary to deal with. About three weeks into using PraiseMoves I realized the pain was decreasing and now I feel no pain in that spot. I don’t know how it helped, but it helped! I am also able to bend and stretch farther than I ever have in my life. I always hated the Presidential Physical Fitness Test in school because I scored so low, especially on the sit-and-reach…I wish I could try it now and see how well I could do!


I love this program so much I have been talking to many of our church ladies about it. We have purchased the 20-Minute Praise Moves DVD and will be starting this together soon. Click here to find out about starting a fitness ministry or PraiseMoves workout at your church.

Watch this video below to see more of AM-PM PraiseMoves!

Disclaimer
I received AM-PM Praise Moves in exchange for my honest review from PraiseMoves. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

So far this summer…

Grace-Filled Writer

I may or may not get around to documenting our summer field trips. We’ve had so many already! Here is a little peek into some of the fun we’ve had in just a few short weeks…

Great Wolf Lodge Mini-Vacation


Home Depot Project #2
Florida Aquarium

Glazer Children’s Museum

Lowery Park Zoo



We’ve also had a lot of fun around the house indoors and out…

New Pets

Craft Projects


Outdoor Fun

Indoctrination the Book: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
My husband and I recently watched an old television show which first aired in the 1970’s. In this particular episode both parents go to see their son’s principal because they know he should not be passing his junior year of high school, yet he has all C’s. The principal tries to convince the parents this is fine because the school doesn’t have any money and the only way to get more money is to graduate a certain percentage of students on to the next grade. The principal said it should be up to their son. When he chose to go on to the next grade, they were understandable upset, but it was what he chose, so they just tried to make him feel guilty. In the end he said, “Well, I’m going to do better next year.” Laugh track starts…lights fade…
The laughing has stopped and the light of truth now exposes the glaring reality of public education through brave voices like those who wrote IndoctriNation, the companion book to the documentary by the same title. The book is written as a collection of short essays from many of the individuals featured in the film. I have not yet seen the film, but I believe this is better as a companion rather than simply read alone.

I appreciated the calm, factual way information is presented in IndoctriNation. Even the skeptic reading this should not get the sense it is written by a fringe group of conspiracy mongers. Rather the book systematically provides factual information which is lies just beneath the surface. Yes, the ideas presented here are radically opposed by the mainstream voices. Our country was founded by radical opposition.

What I agreed with…
* Schools in general are not what we are led to believe they are.
* Teachers have essentially lost all rights and free speech
* Students are not ensured emotional or physical safety in our schools
* There was an agenda when public schools were created and there still is one today which goes far beyond providing quality education.
* There is an over-drugging of students, especially boys, who are just being the way God created boys to be.

What I disagreed with…
* There is a biblical mandate to homeschool
* In general Christian schools are not much better off than public schools
* Parents who do not homeschool are not living in obedience to God

Overall I highly recommend this book, but as I mentioned is is written as a collection of essays by many authors and as such holds a variety of views. While each chapter strongly advocates homeschooling, some go further and state this is a biblical mandate. My husband, a pastor, and I discussed this extensively and we do not see this as black and white and some do. Here are our conclusions…

1. Spiritual and academic education are inherently intertwined whether we like it or not.
2. Public education does address the spiritual side of education no matter how much they deny this fact. It’s just a different spirituality than we want for our girls.

Every parent ought to be armed with this information so they can make the best decision for their child’s education. For financial reasons Christian schools are out of the reach of many. For life-circumstance situation homeschooling is out of the reach of many. It is becoming easier and easier to homeschool, but for single-parents or families with one or more parents with physical needs it can be nearly impossible.

I encourage all Christian parents to read this book and watch the documentary (we plan to soon!) whether you plan to homeschool, attend private school, or attend public school. Knowledge is our best defense against a system and environment currently doing more harm than good. The breakdown in education is so much more than low test scores, more than just school shootings, more than what the politicians want you to believe.

No laugh tracks.
No fade out.

Just reality this stark reality: There is an ungodly undercurrent behind the politics of education which no amount of Christian influence in the schools can prevent. It is up to the informed to decide what to do about it, especially those with children.

Check out some more reviews by clicking the image below! 
Disclaimer
I received IndoctriNation in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

Summer Learning

Grace-Filled Writer

Summer has officially begun in our home! No more part-time work for a couple of months for me and a more relaxed school schedule for the girls. Instead of completely spacing out my insatiably curious girls have summer lessons which deviate from our typical curriculum. For now Heart of Dakota sits on the shelf with next year’s books waiting in the wings for use.

So far we’ve been learning Latin, Sign Language, art, multiplication (Please can I learn multiplication, Mommy? Please, please, please?) and literature. When they are bored I hear, “Can we do some lessons?” When we’re outside it’s mostly, “Ooooh! Look at this cool bug! Let’s go look it up in the encyclopedia!” When I give them each 6 strawberries for snack I hear, “That means 3 x 6 is 18!” from the seven-year-old quickly contradicted by the five-year-old with, “No, no, it’s 6 + 6 + 6 is 18!”

No, I don’t have abnormal children. Children are very smart and curious by nature. All we have done is encourage their natural curiosity. I will admit to you that sometimes the continuous, “Mommy, why does…” can get to be a little much, but then I see children younger than 10 shopping with their mothers with a hand-held game or ear-buds hooked to an mp3 player and I think, It’s worth it. My kids love their time with the computer, kindle, tv, wii, and anything else electronic, but they are limited in the time they have with those things. As a result their whys and what fors dominate our conversation. Conversation…my girls converse with us and we with them.

No, I’m not trying to push them harder than I should. My girls beg, literally beg, to do school when we have too much time off. I love to learn and my husband likes doing math problems for fun. While that probably makes us a family of nerds, they come by it naturally. I’m not forcing them to go faster than they are able, but I am allowing them to move forward at their own pace. I’m okay if they are ahead of where they should be if they were in traditional school. What a blessing I don’t have to hold them back! What a blessing they can work on something longer if they need to!

No, it’s not just because we homeschool. I think homeschooling helps because our home is now a learning environment. I think the biggest difference is my mindset. I’m always looking for ways to engage the girls in learning even if it isn’t “school time”.

No, I’m not super-organized Mom-of-the-year. I have been making some intentional changes about how I manage our household since the summer began. This is has definitely changed some things for the better in our home, but I wouldn’t dare claim that I have it all together. I’m working towards that, but I’m not there yet.

No, it’s not because we’re weird. Okay…maybe we are a little weird. Here are some definitions of weird from Merriam-Webster…

1. of, relating to, or caused by the supernatural
2. of extraordinary character

So yes, I guess we are weird. If you recognize the supernatural power of God then we fit the first definition and I certainly don’t mind my children being labeled as having extraordinary character! We live outside the societal norm. My kids are a blessing, not a burden. My husband is the leader of our home. I am his suitable helpmeet,  I submit to him…and I don’t secretly resent him or God for it. We make decisions based on our understanding of Scripture. We have a DVD player which filters out inappropriate content and we use it for ourselves more than the kids.

Here are some of the things we’ve been learning about…

We homeschool after all…what do you expect?

Prima Latin from Memoria Press: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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Ever since I was in college I decided I was going to teach Greek and Latin to my students. This was when I discovered the connection to Greek and Latin and our own vocabulary. When I taught middle school English full-time they had roots each week and my current junior high homeschool English students I teach once a week also have roots to study and learn weekly. While I saw this as highly valuable for older students as they looked toward college, it honestly didn’t cross my mind to teach them to my own young daughters as part of our homeschool curriculum.
photo PL_completeSet_zps91680a55.pngWhen the Prima Latin pakage from Memoria Press arrived my girls were jumping up and down! I told them we would be learning Latin and they couldn’t wait to start. This particular package is meant to be used with children in grades 2-4. The set costs $90.90 and includes a teacher’s guide, student guide, DVDs, CDs and flash cards. These items can also be purchased individually. 
I initially starts this with Rose who is finishing up 2nd grade. She has started to learn small amounts of Greek from her grandfather and was very excited to embark on this new adventure. I like the layout of the student books as they are easy to follow and very sequential. The first lesson focuses on learning the Latin alphabet which was a bit of a challenge for the vowels. 
Beth saw us doing our Latin lessons and she asked if she could try. We were only one lesson in at this point so I decided to give it a try on her own. She has just finished up Kindergarten and I wasn’t sure if she was ready….Boy did she give me a happy surprise! She quickly engaged with the text and seemed to really enjoy this lesson. The only part I modified a bit was to have her to more of the practice work in the book orally rather than written as her sister had done. 
Rose and Beth completed the first lesson on their own. After that first lesson the girls started working together on their Latin. This was a fun and unique experience because  I typically teach the girls individually on their own levels for different subjects. They enjoyed doing this work together. 
I would sit on the couch and teach the girls in the living room. They found some Latin words to be quite funny and would get a giggle out of them! We listened to the CD or DVD as the lessons indicated. 
The only portion of this program I did not care for as much was the teacher’s guide. It was basically the student guide with answers written in. With subjects I’m not as familiar with, like Latin, I prefer a more scripted book for the teacher’s guide. 
Don’t forget to check out more reviews from my Crewmates below!
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