The Mary Frances Cookbook from Applewood Books: Review and Giveaway!

Grace-Filled Writer

I like to say I’m an accidental Charlotte Mason educator. I can’t claim to have chosen this type of learning because I was two years into our curriculum before I’d ever heard of Charlotte Mason, let alone realized our curriculum was modeled after her style! The heart of Charlotte Mason is good habits, first-hand experience, and living books. A living book is defined as a book which is written as an exciting narrative which draws the reader in. It may be on any subject and engages the reader and entices them to learn more. I can attest that this style of learning fits our family well. I believe in it and my girls love the books we have used so far.

The Mary Frances Cook Book by Jane Eayre Fryer is a wonderful example of a living book originally published in 1912. While a cook book may not be something you automatically think of engaging your children, I can assure you this is something altogether different! This is a storybook about a young girl whose mother is not feeling well, so she decides to help her out in the kitchen. Much to her surprise all of the pots, pans, and utensils in the kitchen come to life and help her learn all she needs to know. Through the course of the 26 chapters, each a little story of its own, Mary Frances learns to make 40 recipes! Each of the recipes is included in the book along with detailed instructions on how to prepare them in a kid-friendly words.

I’ve been reading this to the girls during lunch. I’ve been letting them help me prepare meals for a while and lunch is one of the easiest. They were really excited when I told them I’d read to them during their meal which surprised me since they knew they’d need to be quiet during the meal.

They have enjoyed every chapter and I can never get away with reading just one! Since it was published in 1912 some of the wording and phrases feel old fashioned, but not as much as I expected at first. I do tend to reword as I read at times for simplicity, but I rarely had to do this. We are still reading the book, but it won’t be long before we finish at the rate we are moving.

These are some pictures of the girls helping me make lemonade recently. They love to help in the kitchen and can’t wait to try out some of Mary Frances’ recipes. We will have to make some modifications simply because of the modern conveniences we use now, like using an electric toaster rather than a wire one held over a fire. These simple substitutions have provided lots of opportunity to talk about how things are different now than they used to be. 
Now for the giveaway!!!!! I just love this company! One of my blessed readers will receive one of the four books I reviewed this week from Applewood Books. (Click here to see the choices!)  Make sure you take advantage of all the ways to enter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveawayDisclaimer: I received The Mary Frances Cook Book from Applewood Books in return for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. This is my own opinion. 

Hello, Florida! from Applewood Books: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

Florida feels like the girls’ second home. Rose and Beth were both born in Florida and my husband’s parents live there. We visit the state a couple of times a year and the girls have enjoyed many of the sites in South Florida, but it is such a big state and there are so many other places for them to learn about!
Hello, Florida! by Martha Day Zschock is a fun board book all three of my girls fell in love with! I’m always happy when something I have for Grace gets my other girls excited. She is in preschool so I don’t usually expect her books and activities to engage her sisters. This was one of those times and Grace’s older sisters took great pleasure in reading this story to her! 
The first time I read this to Grace her sisters were working on their lessons. I figured they wouldn’t be interested in their sister’s new board book, so I didn’t think about reading it to all of them. Imagine my surprise, when I suddenly realized they had come up behind us and were reading over my shoulder. They really enjoyed seeing what the alligator tour guides told about Florida next.
Grace asked her sister just today, “Will you read to me?” I love that the girls enjoy reading to their youngest sister and it’s a fun way for them to practice oral story telling. So many different areas of Florida are represented in this short book. Florida is a diverse state, so much more than just the beaches and amusement parts normally remembered. The diversity of the land is well represented. The beautiful illustrations capture the imagination and once again the girls asked if we could visit the areas mentioned the next time we visit. 
My favorite pages were about the Everglades, the area we lived in when Beth and Rose were born. We used to count the alligators in the canals created in the Everglades as we traveled to and from our town, but none were as cute as the two in this book! They are so sweet and made for excellent tour guides. 
Whether you are visiting Florida for the amusements, the history, the beautiful nature, or because you have family there, this will be a fun book to take along with you. Perhaps you’re studying through various states around our country. This would make a fabulous addition as would many of the other books in the series. The detailed pictures make it fun to read over and over and will give even your youngest travelers a sense of what is in store for them!
Disclaimer: I received Hello, Florida!  from Applewood Books in return for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. This is my own opinion. 

Journey Around Maine from A to Z from Applewood Books: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
My girls’ heritage begins in Maine although they aren’t very aware of it! My husband was born in Maine and lived there until he was eight. His mother and grandfather were also born in Maine. I was very excited to have the chance to help them explore this unknown part of their roots.
Journey Around Maine from A to Z  by Martha Zschock was a great place to begin their journey! The entire Journey from A to Z series is an excellent way to learn about states and cities all around our country. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and the amount of information on each page is extensive and thorough. 
Rose asked the other day why we had stopped reading stories before bed like we used to. To be honest I hadn’t really made it a priority since we do so much reading during the day, but after our conversation I realized this was an important family time she was missing. I’ve been aiming to include this into our evenings which don’t include church and the girls are very happy we have renewed this part of our routine. 
I actually had a really hard time getting through the book and we couldn’t get through it in one sitting! They had so many questions spurred by both the information and the paintings. “What’s that?” “What does that name mean?” “Can we go there one day?” The questions came flying faster than I could answer them! 
Not only are many of the wonderful landmarks Maine is famous for represented, but it also explores Maine’s rich history. Everything from the Native American tribes and early settlers to lumber jacks and rock quarries are discussed. Science, geography and culture are all three explored. I loved the diversity of what was represented. Pictures books about states are typically very light on content and tend to focus on either history or geography. This book and others in the series are content rich in so many ways. 
One feature we all loved was the sweet chickadee who acted as our guide through the book. On each page the chickadee is part of the painting and I let the girls take turns finding her. Grace informed me the bird was a little girl! Each book in this series has a different bird to take readers on their journey. It really was a fun treat to play seek-and-find all the way through. 
My only lament is there isn’t a book for every state and major city!

Disclaimer: I received Journey Around Maine from A to Z from Applewood Books in return for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. This is my own opinion. 

A Little Maid of Virginia from Applewood Books: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

Life in colonial America has become a recurrent theme for this year as we prepared for our trip to Williamsburg.

Rose loves all things history and is reading several years ahead of her expected grade-level. The struggle I have is providing her engaging stories written in a way that will challenge her, but also be age-appropriate. The Little Maid series by Alice Curtis has provided wonderful historical fiction at a higher reading level which is also appropriate for her young 8 years. She has read one other book by Alice Curtis which she really enjoyed and definitely looked forward to beginning A Little Maid of Virginia. 
I scheduled Rose to read a chapter from the book each day. This was one of the most challenging books she has read simply because of the language style. Written in the early part of the 20th century, the complex descriptions and sentence structure are not easy for our 21st century minds. My sweet girl jumps right into challenges though and is not afraid to say, “What does this mean, Mommy?” I truly feel challenging a child’s abilities gently and intentionally is the best way for them to progress.
Rose enjoyed the historical aspects and it opened many opportunities to discuss life during this time as well as more information about the Revolutionary War. The fact that the story revolves around two girls who are cousins made it very enjoyable for her to read as she is also very close to her cousins. 
This also would make an excellent read-aloud choice for family reading. It is a wonderful example of the living books way to introduce history to young girls. Many aspects of colonial times and the Revolutionary War are difficult to express to young children because of their sadness and violence, yet Alice Curtis inspired my daughter to want to know more and gently introduced her to this period of history. 
Are you looking for great classic novels to introduce your daughters to history? This is a wonderful series to check out!
Disclaimer: I received A Little Maid of Virginia from Applewood Books in return for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. This is my own opinion. 

A Week of Applewood Books and a Giveaway!

Grace-Filled Writer

I’m so excited to have the chance to review for Applewood Books again! This company is primarily dedicated to the publication of classic, out-of-print books in order that they might be preserved for future generations. There are so many wonderful books from this company and I have the privileged to review four of them, one coming you way each day the rest of this week and a giveaway at the end too! Each day a new link will go live from the list below. At the end of the week there will also be a giveaway and the winner will get to choose one of the four books. I’m so excited!

Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

Robert Griffin III: Athlete, Leader, Believer by Ted Kluck: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
2011
I’m so pleased to have my first guest-post from non other than my dear husband. We are a Redskins family and my girls all enjoy cheering on the team with their daddy. Enjoy my husband’s review of this new biography of the Redskins rising star, #10. (The pictures of the team are from our trip to Redskins training camp a few weeks ago)
I typically do a lot of reading and research while at work, I therefore don’t do very much reading for pleasure. Every so often, however, a book catches my eye and I just have to read it. Since I am a huge Washington Redskins fan Robert Griffin III: Athlete,Leader, Believer by Ted Kluck, was one of those books. I have been a Redskins fan my entire life. I have been a fan through some great years and remained a fan through some tough years. Ever since the Redskins drafted Robert Griffin III I have had high hopes for the Redskins. 
The book begins by talking about what made Robert Griffin III into the athlete he is today. I learned how we was raised in a military family, his work ethic, and the support and encouragement he received from his parents. As I read through the book, I loved how chapter after chapter described the steps Griffin III took to get to the NFL and what happened once he was there. Being the Redskins fan that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters that recounted the 2012 NFL season. It was as if I could replay the games in my mind as the author described the details of the games.
Not only does this book talk about Griffin III’s NFL career so far in the NFL, it also addresses his faith. I love knowing how Griffin III’s faith fits in to who he is as a person and how it helps him as an NFL quarterback. According to the book he is a man of integrity which is a result of his faith in God, something lacking in many modern athletes. In a society where we hear of more and more athletes being jailed for more shocking and horrendous crimes, it is refreshing to learn about those who have not compromised their faith in the face of fame. 
The only disappointing thing about the book for me was the number of misspellings and grammatical errors. While I still highly recommend the book, it would benefit from another round of editing.

This book is a great read for any football fan and especially a Redskins fan. It’s a book that will be hard to put down and could easily be read in a single sitting. 


Disclosure:  I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com® <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Week in Review: September 16-20

Grace-Filled Writer

We’ve deviated one more week away from Heart of Dakota. I’m in a season of life where I’m trying to heal physically from not just 1, but 2 major surgeries within a year. This second one wasn’t as major as the first back at Christmas except that it occurred so soon after the first. As a result my iron levels are low…crazy low! I now know why I have had hardly strength, energy, or focus. I’m told I have another 3 weeks before I’ll start feeling better, but I’m on an iron supplement and adding in lots of iron-rich foods into my diet. I also have lots of dear friends praying I’ll feel more energized and more like myself even before the doctors think I will!

As a result our homeschooling has been modified slightly. My daughters take classes specifically for homeschoolers so science is covered for me. Since we spent a few days at Colonial Williamsburg I figured history could be put on hold for a week too! So this week we focused mainly on mathematics and language arts. I am grateful for the flexibility which homeschooling allows. My girls are already ahead in all of their subjects anyway so taking it easy isn’t a big deal for us.

Grace – K4
Grace mostly focused on her reading lessons even though she also did a lot of work-book pages. I now have several on hand that she can just work through at her leisure since I can’t keep this girl satisfied with what I plan for her lessons.

Beth – 1st Grade
Beth read one of my favorite books from my own childhood this week, Wagon Wheels, about a family who goes west and starts a new life. I remember seeing this on Reading Rainbow. My parents would write down all the books at the end and we’d immediately head off to the library to see how many we could find! Beth loved this story and it was so great sharing it with her again!

She also completed way more math than I had planned. Beth enjoys working with numbers. She finds it interesting and fun. I wish I had her enthusiasm! For me, numbers are a tedious necessity. I much prefer words.

Rose – 3rd Grade
Rose is reading a wonderful book called A Little Maid from Virginia which has been a stretching read for her. It was written in the early part of the 20th century so the vocabulary and style are very different from what she is used to. I do encourage her to read anything she wants any other time of the day, but I like to give her literature like this as I think ahead to the types of books I want her to be reading in a few years. Since I do plan for Jane Austen and Mark Twain to enter into our world eventually this has been excellent preparation.

Rose never loved math the way her sisters did…until a few weeks ago that is! I cannot sing the praises of Life of Fred enough. I will be writing a review of this eventually. Until then know that it has moved my girl who dreaded math and dragged it out for 45-60 minutes each day now begs to begin with math and flies through her lessons. We have not abandoned our regular math with Rod and Staff, but just added to it. Rather than making math take even longer, it now takes only about 20 minutes each day.

We have some fun things coming up this week including a field trip to a new children’s museum and a concert with Mrs. Kate Carpenter! She is a personal friend of ours and my girls love her music. Take a minute to check her out and look forward to a post about her concert next week!

Colonial Williamsburg: Field Trip

Grace-Filled Writer

Colonial Williamsburg is one of the places I’ve been anxiously waiting to take the girls! I wanted them to be old enough to enjoy it and appreciate as much of the history as possible. Rose and Beth have experienced a lot of history already through Heart of Dakota and Grace is soaking in all that her sisters do. This year the homeschool days for Williamsburg seemed to line up perfectly with our schedule. My parents were able to tag along as well which was nice since they have season passes and could offer some advice about which areas the girls would enjoy the most.

The girls each had a colonial dress which was also fun! Beth’s was the last to get done. I didn’t make any of these and Rose and Grace’s were given to us. I found the one for Beth on e-bay. It was very nicely made, but needed some minor alterations including a rather large hem job! I thankfully have a good friend who comes and helps me with sewing projects if I get stuck and she was just so helpful!

I’ve also been reading the Felicity books to the girls in preparation of our trip. I was hoping to get through more than one book, but now we have first-hand experience in Williamsburg so I think they’ll really enjoy the books. Starting next week I’ll be doing activities with the girls each Friday along with these books. I’m really looking forward to this and can’t wait to share our experiences with you!





Her are some of the highlights of our few days away. I loved that so many of the reenactors took the time to actively engage the girls!

This is the print shop where the girls learned all about printing. They had a cute kitty there too! The paper had to be kept moist for the ink to set. They were surprised how wet it felt!

The Silversmith’s shop was LOUD! They said it wasn’t normally that loud, but on that particular day the things they were working on all needed hammering!

The nice lady at the apothacary offered to pull Beth’s loose tooth, but she politely declined with a, “No thank you!” 

We all enjoyed the music teacher! I guess this is what I would have looked like back then.

Whatever they did, I guess they were in on it together! Rose didn’t want any part of the stockades!

They really enjoyed the palace tour and seeing all the weapons in the armory. Grace loved the maze of bushes behind the palace!

My silly soldiers kept laughing and their sergeant was so gruff! Grace got tired of the soldiering after a while, but Rose and Beth were ready to go through training again! 
It really was a lot of walking for my girls in the 3 days we were there, but they really did well! Grace was carried quite a bit of the way, but the weather was cool enough and we had drinks all day long. 
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the ladies dying the yarn and seeing the workings of the weaving shop. The girls were a bit grossed out by the fact that bugs were used to dye yarn. They were even more disgusted when they found out they still use them in some food dyes! 
I was really surprised how much they loved the model of Williamsburg in the visitors center. Every time we went there they wanted to stop and take a peek!
We all thoroughly enjoyed the tea house. We each had chocolate which needed quite a bit of cream and sugar to make it taste yummy. Next time we go I think I’ll try some tea. Grandma and Grandpa really like their coffee. 
I’m sad to say this is our one and only family picture! 
I’m usually really good about making sure we have a few family shots, but I just forgot this time. 
Here are some of the treasures the girls came back from Williamsburg with. Rose loves her quill pen and ink and Beth adores her coloring book of colonial fashion trends! Grace has a sweet little horse and lamb, but was adamant that they did not want their picture taken! 
I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into our trip! The girls all asked, “When do we get to come back?” That tells me they had a really good time! 
Family Friendly: 10
Kids Engagement: 10 (This sort of depends on their ages!)
Likelihood to return: 10 

Funny Pictures

Grace-Filled Writer

I hope everyone realizes that the pictures we post are the cream. It often takes several tries, especially when you have younger children, to get that perfect picture. Sometimes the ones in between are priceless! Here are a few of funny “out-take” pictures. I like to call this series, “Sometimes almost 4-year-olds don’t like to cooperate!”

My nose it itchy!
I am sooooo done with standing!

I do not like this badge on my pretty ribbon!
“What did you write on here, Mommy?”
CHEEEEEEESE!
Are you seriously still taking pictures of me?

Homeschooling Options: Outside Classes

Grace-Filled Writer

One of the great things about homeschooling is there are so many wonderful options. I don’t know of any two homeschools which look the same and this is such a fabulous change from the typical one-size-fits-all educational model we typically see in the traditional classroom.

Beth and her teacher!

Our girls participate in a homeschool learning center and take classes one or two days a week. The learning center model differs from a co-op in several ways. First, the parents are not necessarily the teachers. While I am teaching a class at the learning center, most of the teachers do not have students who attend. Another way we differ is we have a full-time administrator who functions as a principal and plays a very active role in everything which occurs. There is also a board of directors, students pay tuition, and there is a dress-code. In reality it functions much more like a private school offering classes to homeschoolers more than anything else.

Rose and her teacher!

This is the third year for Rose and the first year for Beth. The main core of the classes they are taking is science. I love this for so many reasons. As a learning center with tuition their resources are much greater than I could have here at home. I also see a benefit to corporate learning, especially with science. Problem solving and strategizing is completely different when you bring a diverse group of individuals together. I appreciate that our learning center focuses on science, geography, and humanities rather than math and language arts at the younger levels. It does not matter how well a child reads or is able to do math because those things are not emphasized.

The junior division (middle school) focuses on literature and writing (This is what I teach!) and science. These classes are structured to help prepare students for a more structured learning environment for high school. We give grades and have a more traditional style classroom setting. This picture is from my first year teaching and I am beginning my fourth year at Deerstream Learning Center. My degree is in middle school language arts and this is genuinely my dream job. I get to work one day each week teaching my very eager students for 3 hours. Discipline problems do not exist. The students enjoy learning and are, for the most part, excited to participate in our discussions. Because Deerstream is a non-denominational Christian organization I am also free to share Christ and can bring out spiritual truth as we study together.

This also leaves time for me to focus specifically on instruction with Grace who I have said before just can’t get enough learning. I think this will be good for her. Unfortunately, she doesn’t see it this way! All she sees is her big sisters get to go off for a day and she misses out. Sometimes she goes with her daddy to church in the office for the morning, but usually she is with me.

This is our administrator. Grace was feeling left out of the pictures so she was excited to have her picture taken too!