TOS Review Crew

CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive from CursiveLogic: A TOS Crew Review

March 5, 2018 Grace-Filled Writer

Teaching cursive is traditionally done through tracing or copy worksheets and without much guidance for the teacher. Many times these courses proceed in alphabetical order or by clustering vowels and consonants. I have both completed these types of courses myself and gave them to my daughters. I had no idea there was any different way. Then I was sent CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive by CursiveLogic. I have to confess I was completely blown away by this program! I think so highly of it, this will be the only program I recommend for teaching cursive from now on. So what makes this program so special? Well, there are quite a few things. The first is the way in which the letter structures are taught. Below is an example of how letters are grouped The Orange Oval Letters are formed with the same unique beginning stroke pattern. Combining these together provides a continuity for learning like I’ve never seen. Other programs do teach the basic strokes, but I have not come across one that connect them together in a string and teaches them at the same time. The combined use of multi-sensory tools including color, touch, auditory, and verbal devices aid in creating a firm memory for students. I’m a firm believer in using as many senses as possible when learning and especially for things which need fast recall. I use this same approach for other subjects, but it never occurred to me that the same could be applied to teaching cursive.

Grace enjoyed completing the pages assigned for each day. You may use this program at a faster or slower pace, but we followed the set structure and I found it to be quite good for her age at eight-years-old. She was neither overwhelmed, nor desiring to move at a faster rate. Because the letters start out larger, she felt more in control of her learning.

The other really awesome part of this program is the webinar! My college degree is in middle-grades education. I was taught how to teach math and reading. I was also required to complete a traditional cursive course, yet no one taught me how to teach. I love this resource as a mom and a teacher. My favorite homeschooling resources are those which teach me how to teach. The other aspect of this program is a beautiful adult coloring book with an amazing little secret! The detailed patterns follow the same curves needed for learning cursive. This little gem is an incredible follow up to the course and a great refresher for adults and older students!

I love that there are beautiful quotes included as a part of these pages for tracing. I found myself to be a bit out of practice using traditional cursive! As most people do I have come to have my own way of connecting and creating letters. While this is not surprising, I would like to have prettier handwriting.

I do not personally color the entire page with these kinds of coloring books, but there is LOTS of space for those kids who like to fill it all! You can see from the close up above some of the cursive lettering curve patterns. When I completed this page I followed a traditional cursive style in those spaces and found it to be a smooth, quick way to fill in the spaces.

As I stated earlier I am thoroughly impressed by this program and the support it gives parents and teachers. No matter your age, this is an excellent way to learn or brush up on cursive, especially if your child’s initial training did not accomplish the desired results. Check this coupon code out! Hurry and don’t miss it!

Check out what my Crewmates have to say!

Thin Stix Creativity Pack from The Pencil Grip, Inc.: A TOS Crew Review

November 6, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

My girls love it when I give them supplies for arts and crafts and just let them create with no agenda or purpose or art theory. Kids are incredibly creative and come up with some of the most amazing works of art when we just give them freedom to make. Thin Stix Creativity Pack from The Pencil Grip, Inc. is an incredible tool for this kind of free creativity because they are the most mess-free paints I have ever seen! We had the opportunity to review one of the smaller sets of Thin Stix earlier this year. When I opened the box and the girls saw this amazing box inside they all began jumping up and down begging to open it up! This set of 24 colors will keep your child engaged for a long time! In addition to the vibrant traditional colors there are also neons and metallics.

We decided to give rock painting a try with these fun, fast-drying paints. We haven’t tried rock hunting but I know it is all the rage on social media and I thought this could be a fun activity. If we don’t end up hiding any rocks we can just use them in our flower bed.

Grace liked to put lots of layers on her rocks. These this was really good for her style of creativity. are perfect for that because they dry so quickly.You can see she was working on 3-4 rocks at the same time. This is perfect for her personality since she tends to jump from one thing to the next and not having to wait long kept her occupied longer.

I don’t have photos of myself, but I also painted some rocks! These paints just glide on their surface in such a smooth way. They were really enjoyable to use personally. I Their chunky nature means your projects will not have tiny details, but we just adjusted our expectations and had such a great time using them!

While one might think mess-free paints are more suitable for pre-school and younger elementary students, my 10 and 12-year-old daughters really love them as well. When we were done with our rocks the girls asked if they could keep on creating. This is the sign of a quality product. No matter how much I may love something, if my girls aren’t engaged it really doesn’t meet our needs. Rose is working on a picture of a school bus.

My favorite rocks the girls created were the pepperoni pizza slices! So adorable! My rock was a beach scene that didn’t turn out quite as lovely as their creations. Some other good uses for these would be posters and painting clay projects. We haven’t tried that yet, but I think they would work beautifully.

Although Thin Stix adhere fabulously to porous products like paper, they did have the tendency to wipe off with enough pressure on the rocks. This is no big deal as I usually coat our placing them outside to keep this from happening in the rain.

The girls chatted and created for well over 90 minutes. Wow! Winner in my book!

Make sure to see what my Crew-mates had to say!

Weave Your Word in Me — Part 1 from Kid Niche Christian Books: A TOS Crew Review

October 23, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Our family has committed to raising our daughters with God’s Word as our guide. We don’t want our children to merely modify their lives to a list of rules. We don’t want them to follow God because we do. Our greatest desire as parents is to see them grow in their relationship with the Lord and serve them with their lives because of their individual desire to follow Him. We are constantly looking for creative, new, and fun ways to make this a reality. Weave Your Word in Me — Part 1 from Kid Niche Christian Books intrigued me. It is geared towards pre-teens (Grades 4-6) which is the exact season I find myself in with my daughters. This study is a beautifully crafted 36-lesson set which studies the Lord’s Prayer in great depth. I was amazed at just how detailed this study was. Most of the time studies for students in this age are not as deep as I have found this to be. I was very impressed with the biblical detail and while the teaching and explanations were incredibly kid-friendly, they were not in any way watered down.

I had Beth, 10, use this exclusively. She was right in the center of the target age-range and was also very excited to give it a try! She is no stranger to Bible study. As with all of our daughters she has been a part of family devotion time since birth. Beth has studied Scripture in our church and through our children’s program as well as a consistent part of our homeschool. She dove right into this study and right away told me she liked it. When I asked her why she said it was because she could do it herself and that it was easy for her to understand.

This is a self-paced course has an answer key for the 6 most popular translations. My husband uses NASB and the girls memorize their verses out of the NKJV. I really liked that there were several options included with this study. Most other curricula either doesn’t provide a key or requires a particular translation. This flexibility is absolutely wonderful. I love that it is simple fill-in-the blanks for most of the lessons. This is less intimidating and still provides plenty of learning.

Beth was fully engaged while she worked through this study. She often asked if she could do more than one lesson in a day which is a good indicator that she enjoyed what she was doing. I love how Scripture is used to interpret and explain Scripture. This is one of the best indicators of an excellent, in-depth study for adults and I believe this is the first time I’ve seen it applied to a study for children. In addition to the fill-in-the-blanks there are illustrations, cartoons, scripts, multiple choice, true/false, and more. This covers just about every learning style imaginable. While Beth worked on this independently it would be great for a group study either in home or church setting.

My favorite part was having the opportunity to read Beth’s responses in prayer after her time in Scripture. It was such a blessing to have these recorded responses! Sometimes it is hard to know how much of our discipleship and training is reaching the girls’ hearts. These little glimpses inside my girls heart and mind were such a precious thing and this will be something I treasure forever.

I highly, highly recommend this study. I have used and observed more Bible studies than I can recall for both kids and adults. I can this study is not only one of the most engaging I have come across, but also the most thorough.

Check out what my Crewmates have to say!

Six Month Membership from Reading Eggs: A TOS Crew Review

October 16, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

When I first learned of Reading Eggs a few years ago my girls were already strong readers. I still took a look at the website and was impressed with what I saw. I’ve since recommend the program to many friends and they have raved about it! I was very excited to learn that there was much more to Reading Eggs than when I first looked at it many years ago. Both Beth (10) and Grace (8) had the chance to use Reading Eggspress and absolutely love it!
You can get a 4 month free-trial with Reading Eggs by clicking here! There is so much to explore on the Reading Eggs website. The most exciting portion is the latest update for homeschoolers. Within this section is full, 36-week lesson plans for kindergarten, first, and second grades. They are very thorough and cover all four core subjects: language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The material needed within the various disciplines are available on the website within the library and included with the subscription. If you are looking for an online curriculum for your younger students I highly recommend checking this out.

These smiles can tell you just how much my girls loved using Reading Eggs. It is the first thing they ask to use each day. Honestly, I don’t think they realize that it is a learning program. They really look at it as a fun game. Because of this I used it as a reward for completing the rest of their work. They have never worked quite so fast! After completing the assigned reading passage or lesson they would take assessments to see how well they recalled the information they were taught. I love that I can check their progress and see how well they are progressing. I can see their assessment scores and check to make sure they are moving forward in their learning. I have been happy to see them progress throughout their time using it so far.

Beth was excited to show me her Avatar (personalized character). She loved that it had a little panda purse because that is her favorite animal! Another aspect which is really nice is printable worksheets for each lesson. These can be used as supplements to the lessons and can be very valuable for families using this as their main reading program. I found them to be very well done and thorough. I personally like to have options which will allow off-screen assessment and practice so this is excellent for those who like to have that ability.

Even when they weren’t using Reading Eggs themselves these two were often sitting side-by-side watching the other one work! Rose (12) was even intrigued by the fun graphics and style of learning. The only part I did not care for was teaching slang as vocabulary. For instance, in one story the word “sick” is used and they were supposed to identify the definition based on context. I absolutely love the fact that it teaches inference. I am not thrilled that this is taught by using slang. I personally feel there is better use of instructional time than this. While my girls clearly enjoyed it and I do think the reading comprehension assessments are highly useful, this would be best suited for families with younger children or less advanced readers. I also know many who love to have their children’s learning online for a variety of reasons, but that is typically not my preference. I will absolutely recommend this to families looking for online learning options because although it is not my personal preference for the majority of my girls’ learning, this is one of the best and full programs with which I’ve had the opportunity to work. Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

Brinkman Adventures Season 4 from Brinkman Adventures: A TOS Crew Review

October 10, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Our girls love to listen to audio drama. They almost always listen to one when they go to bed at night and many times in the car, even on short drives. We just pickup where we were the next time we hop into the car. They will even choose to listen to wonderful audios during their free time. We have never heard any of the Brinkman Adventures but they were so excited to have a new series and thoroughly enjoyed listening to Brinkman Adventures Season 4!
These modern, and true, missionary stories are brought to life through the Brinkman family. The family approaches life with a biblical worldview. It is always nice when a source of entertainment will reflect our own family’s worldview. My younger two girls especially enjoyed their adventures. Beth, age 10, wanted to listen to them over and over!

Twelve episodes are included in this season. The girls listened to all of them within just a couple of days! There are a variety of mission fields represented and also a variety of types of mission work. The girls liked the story, “Remember Nhu,” which dealt with child slavery in Cambodia. I very much appreciated that while the story highlighted a wonderful ministry to help girls escape from sexual slavery, the story only referred to the horrors as “slavery.” My girls are not aware of this particular evil in he world and I liked that they were able to experience this story of redemption and hope without having to bear the weight of the atrocities of child sex slavery.

While the girls often listened at bedtime, we also enjoyed them in the car! One of my favorite episodes was “The War of the Racoons.” While this particular show was not based on an actual situation it was quite humorous and kept us laughing! I also liked the way the story portrayed repentance and restoration. There were also some interesting themes about marriage and relationships. While we are not in that season with our girls yet, it was nice to have a more biblical viewpoint on relationships presented as opposed to what the world presents.

The episodes are about twenty-five minutes long. This is a great length for trips around town. We usually are able to listen to one on the way to and from wherever we are running our errands. It was the perfect length for a one-way trip to their science class on Wednesday mornings! The girls really enjoyed these stories. They have asked if we can listen to more. In addition to the Brinkman Adventures there is another series called The Time Chroniclers which looks intriguing! Don’t forget to check out what my Crewmates have to say!

Family Membership from CTCMath: A TOS Crew Review

October 9, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Math seems to always be that one subject that I find myself questioning if I’ve chosen the right curriculum. If you have a math-minded kid this is usually not an issue. My experience is they will thrive with any curriculum as long as it is challenging enough. It’s a completely different story with those kids who are less mathematically inclined that the struggle begins. I have heard rave reviews about CTCMath online. We had the opportunity to review the Family Membership and right now homeschoolers can get 60% off + 6 bonus months. This is an amazing deal if you are looking for an online program! Also there is a wonderful free trial available. (Hurry! Both of these offers end November 15!)

All three of my daughters used CTC Math.Grace – 3rd GradeBeth – 5th GradeRose – Basic Math and PreAlgebra (7th grade) I appreciated very much that this is perfectly suited to customize to each student. Grace has a late birthday so while she is “officially” in 2nd grade she is much more advanced in her studies and is ready for 3rd grade work. Beth is also advanced although not a full grade-level ahead. Rose has always felt a struggle with math. I personally feel it is simply a mental block because it isn’t enjoyable for her, but even so she needs some shoring up in certain areas. Having the opportunity to adjust their mathematics studies to their personal needs is spectacular. With most other online programs I’ve used my girls are assigned a certain grade level and must work through in an orderly pace. This is not necessarily bad, but for us the customization abilities have been a great benefit.

Beth prefers to use pencil and paper when making calculations, but that is only option with this program as there is allowance for traditional borrowing and carrying. This is also a unique feature I have not seen before in an online program. Grace and Rose preferred to do everything on the screen and knowing they would be able to continue as they had been taught was wonderful!

I had the girls take assessments of each section and then only assigned their weak areas for assignments. This was great because some of the concepts were already mastered. I very much appreciated they did not have to work through extra. I know it never hurts to review concepts, but I like knowing they can move at their own pace. This is especially helpful in the beginnings of the grade when there will always be a minimal amount of review.

The girls did their work all together this one day so I could get some nice photos of them in progress. Usually they did their work at different times and in different locations. The living room couch was a favorite for Grace and Rose while the living room floor was the preferred location for Beth! This is one benefit to online at-your-own pace programs. I really wasn’t involved in the learning process at all. That can be both good and bad. When they are getting things wrong and I need to explain if I haven’t first watched the video my explanations may be more confusing. On the one hand I liked having someone else teach the concepts because sometimes I struggle with that. On the other hand I’m not sure if I’m ready to completely hand over the teaching of mathematics. I’m still considering that.

My one frustration was in learning how to work with the program from a teacher perspective. My girls had no trouble at all once I was able to get their assignments in the “task” sections. I felt rather confused at the start. I easily setup the girl’s individual accounts, but after that I wasn’t sure what to do. I would have liked to have some instruction and guidelines for where to start for assessment or if it is expected just to begin at the start of the grade-level. I like step-by-step instructions for the beginning of any program and that seemed to be lacking. Still, this was my only downside. My girls loved the program!

How about you? Have you had experience with CTC Math? I’d love to hear about it!

Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls Books1 & 2 from WorthyKids/Ideals: A TOS Crew Review

September 26, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

My eager reader Grace was very excited when she found out she would have two new books to read! Grace is eager about just about everything, but this was extra exciting because it was a sequel. She is a big fan of book series because it means she gets to read more adventures with the stories she loves. The first two books in the The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series from WorthyKids/Ideals completely captivated her!

Two Children, siblings Mary and Peter discover scrolls in a pot in their uncle’s house. The ones with a red wax seal transports them to ancient biblical times. The first book takes the children to Creation week and the second to the time of Noah as he is building the ark. The children have to decipher what the ancient scrolls have written on them because they are in a language they cannot understand. Once they discover the words the seal turns from wax into metal and are then transported back to their own time.

These very short adventure books are excellent choices for kids just beginning to read chapter books. The stories are engaging and adventurous, but with words which aren’t too difficult for young readers. The short length is also great because they will not feel overwhelmed by them. Each chapter is only a few pages long with nice, larger sized lettering. Each entire book is only about 100 pages total and there are still pictures which was a big deal to my girls when they were just starting chapter books.

There are quite a few chapter book series out there for young readers, but only a few emulate the values we desire our children to emulate such as integrity, honesty, and respect. Even fewer deal with the Bible at all and especially in a way which is presented as truth. I consider these to fit into the genre of historical fiction because the biblical side is presented in a factual way.

Since we started our full-schedule of school I assigned each of these books over the course of one week. She was assigned a chapter a day…but often read ahead. This is such a great indication of just how good the books are. My girls always read without complaint, even when they don’t always love the book. I can tell whenever they love the book because they come to me after their assigned reading time and say, “I’m sorry Mommy…I read ahead.” I think it’s so funny that Grace apologized every time because I never mind!

Here is what Grace (7) has to say about the books:

I really like them! I want to know if they are going to make any more because I like that its about them going back in time and how they try to figure out the mystery words. I also like that they get to meet people from the Bible. I also like that it’s hard to figure out the words. I like that in the second book they had to guess the sentences because time was running out. I also like that it’s really adventurous.

Now that you know what Grace thinks, don’t forget to see what my Crewmates have to say!

Captain Bayley’s Heir from Heirloom Audio Productions: A TOS Crew Review

September 25, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Quality entertainment we consider “safe” for our girls to enjoy is hard to come by these days. We feel the need to screen just about every form of media they encounter be it visual, audio, or in written form. There are only a handful of companies which we trust to always provide this safe entertainment we seek for our family. Although our first experience with Heirloom Audio Productions was only a few months ago, this wonderful company is absolutely at the top of that list. We anxiously awaited the arrival of Captain Bayley’s Heir and were not at all disappointed! This wonderful story begins in London with the story of Frank, a school-boy accused of a dishonest act which he did not actually do. Fear leads him to feel trapped in his circumstances with the only opportunity to redeem his good reputation being to feel to America. His life in America is very different from that in London. His desire is to make his fortune, believing that will be the only way to earn back his reputation. Throughout the story Frank is faced with the reality that his life matters and that God’s grace will abound. The ending was surprise to me and I love that his family finds him and they are reunited in the end as well as the fact that Frank’s name was indeed cleared of the accusations! We listened to this wonderful story on our way to and from a field trip to the zoo. The 90 minute journey there and back went by very quickly with this as our entertainment! All five of us completely enjoyed the story. We listen to a lot of audio drama while driving, but not many that are this long and it captivated our attention thoroughly. Many of the voice talents were recognizable from other audio dramas and movies or television. The acting was superb and I absolutely love the background music! In addition to the audio is the opportunity to participate in the Live the Adventure Club. There are sooooo many amazing resources with this! The study guide is an amazing tool which can be used to make this part of your school-day and be incredibly educational. There are questions to help your children listen well and deeper, more thought provoking questions to help them with inference and predictions while listening. These are great skills which will translate into reading assignments as well. The vocabulary list is really helpful since these are older stories with rich words rarely used these days in modern conversation and writing. Also some of the historical references which may be unfamiliar are covered, like cobblestone.

I really like that the guide explored the historical context of Manifest Destiny, the idea that the settlement of western America was predestined because of the country’s political and economic power. I really appreciate an honest discussion of this with our kids and the fact that the drama also delves into an understanding that the tribal nations native to this country were not to blame for all of the bloodiness of the past. Honest discussions about what really happened between Americans and the tribes is needed rather than imbalanced teaching. Having my girls listen to entertainment that strives to be fair and true to history is very important to us. As I mentioned before I loved the background music. I’m a huge fan of sounds tracks and one of the cool things about the Live the Adventure Club is that you can listen to the soundtrack! There are also three study guide options which are simple to follow, yet very deep and will provide a great spring-board for discussion. Don’t forget to check out what my Crewmates had to say!

Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing: A TOS Crew Review

September 18, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

We love good books! We especially love good books that reflect our biblical worldview. Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing is a book which combines both good writing and a biblical worldview with which we can align ourselves. Beth is in 5th grade and I thought this would be a fun change of pace from her normal reading assignments. While Beth is reading several grade-levels above what would be expected, volunteer reading isn’t something she chooses to do for fun like her sisters. Imagine begins in the present day where the reader meets 10-year-old Corey Max who is in a bit of a dilemma. His family is moving half-way across the country from Texas to Florida, and Corey is none too happy about it. When trying to retrieve his dog, Molly, before a storm hits, he trips and falls hitting his head on something hard. As he tries to reach his dog, he is suddenly transported to another time and definitely another place! As the story progresses Corey meets Noah’s family and sees some of the challenges he faced as he built the ark. One interesting aspect was the inclusion of giants! The Bible clearly speaks about giants in the early days of the earth so the inclusion is logical, but many children’s resources rarely touch on this. Beth was surprised and asked me if there really were giants. It was a great springboard to look it up in Scripture!

This story will capture your imagination from the start. It’s hard to really pinpoint a genre: historical, biblical, science-fiction (travel), early adolescent literature…there are many categories within which it could fit well! I enjoyed that Corey’s parents were set up in a positive light. They put life events into a biblical perspective and encouraged their son to do the same. I often feel as if my husband and I are the only ones who do the same with our own children an when we get many a raised eyebrow among our peers when we speak about the Lord guiding and directing us to do things. Having a delightful fiction book that echoes our same family values is a great thing.
I also love that biblical events are portrayed as history. So much of the world, even professing Christians, seem to view Scripture as merely allegorical rather than as actual history. It is so important for our children to understand and know the Bible is true and factual. This novel presents biblical events as they may have really happened and in a way that will reach today’s kids. My favorite analogy is when Corey first sees one of Noah’s sons and describes him mentally as looking like Obi-Wan Kenobi. That made me smile as I’m sure it did Beth since they are familiar with the Star Wars story.

Beth read this story without complaint, which at the moment is a really big deal! She is incredibly bright, but has been complaining recently when it comes to schoolwork. She never once sighed or grumbled over reading and in fact accidentally read more than I had assigned her daily several times! This tells me just how much she enjoyed the book.When I asked her what she thought about it she said she liked it and that it had someone going back in time and being involved in the story instead of just telling about it like a Bible story. I do highly recommend this title and can’t wait to read the next in the series! Take a look at what my Crewmates had to say!

Unauthorized from Chara Games: A TOS Crew Review

September 13, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Our family really, really loves games. From before the girls could even speak they were sitting on our laps, or the laps of their grandparents, watching us play all variety of card, board, and strategy game and they have been participating as game players since they were each about 18 months old. They are always ready to play a new game, especially when they think it is more grown up! They were especially excited that their Grampy and Grammy were in town from Florida to try out Unauthorized from Chara Games.
The premise of this compact card game is to role-play life for Christians in a country where Christians are persecuted. The rules are fairly straight forward, although there is a learning curve which is best worked through by actual game-play. It is also pretty short. All of the games we played took 30 minutes or less. My in-laws came into town for an over-night visit on their way to visit more family, but they were here long enough to join in the fun! We played several times with all 7 of us! The fast-paced momentum kept all of us interested. Although recommended for 12 and up on the box, Grace (7) and Beth (10) both really enjoyed it. One of their favorite parts was choosing the character to be. Sometimes we did this randomly, but we also let them pick characters. Each of the character cards had a female side and a male side so each would work no matter who was using it.

My husband is excellent at rule-reading and then at providing subsequent explanations. So he played a mock round with himself to see how it all worked. This was a really great idea since we were playing with kids younger than the target age who may have been bored as they waited for us to understand the rules enough to explain them.

There is one designated pastor and one designated state policeman. They are on opposing sides and each is trying to gather the most support. Their loyalty is based upon how many of which color action cards they have. If the player has more green cards, they are on the pastor’s side. If they have more red cards they are on the state’s side. As each player has opportunities to play their cards or take actions they must act in the best interest of whichever side they are loyal. If they happen to have equal of each color they are considered neutral and may play in whichever way they want. Every action made is intended to help sway more people to be loyal to your own side.

The goal is to be on the winning side whether that is the state or church. The side wins when they all the rounds have been played and they have the most people loyal to them. My girls of course always wanted to be on the church’s side, but the adults understood they wanted to be on the winning side. We all felt like this was a fun game. It did take a couple of rounds to really get the hang of it, and Grace (the youngest) needed some guidance, but she did quite well on her own by the 3rd time we played! They also have asked to play it several more times. It is important to note that this is intended for 6 or more players. There are special rules so it can be played with 5. We did not try these, but basically one person takes on two separate roles and it could definitely work well with someone who understood the game fully.

The girls and I have been having conversations about how to pray for people in these real-life situations. While this game is indeed quite fun, it has also provided wonderful opportunities to discuss more deeply some of the trials persecuted Christians face. We have friends serving in these nations and this was a great reminder to pray for them and to know exactly how to pray for them. It has also provided reflective moments that really caused us to pause and consider just how blessed we are in this nation and exactly how much we take these freedoms for granted. I highly recommend this interactive and fun game. Be sure to click below and see what my Crewmates have to say!