Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Last year, I really enjoyed an opportunity to review Transcripts Made Easy by Everyday Education, LLC and so I was excited to get the opportunity to review another one of their wonderful products. I received the Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook for review. This book contains both phonics and writing, but we used it mainly for writing. The author asserts that students could learn to read and write in as few as 60 days using this book, though she does explain that some students will need longer.

The most obvious use of Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook is with lower elementary students that are learning to read and write. However, I chose to try it out with my eighth-grade son, who needed some work on his handwriting.  We had done handwriting in the past, but somehow his writing seemed to be getting messier as he got older and I wanted to make sure that he had the practice he needed to write legibly. I felt like the beautiful italic style of handwriting was great practice for him and that he showed improvement in his everyday handwriting after consistent practice.

In addition to having my son use the handwriting portion, I spent some time looking over the reading portion of the book. It is an older style phonics program that is set up very basically. First, students learn their letters and sounds. Then students learn short vowels sounds, consonant blends, and so forth getting into gradually more difficult phonics. For the short vowel sounds there are pages of words for each sound for the student to sound out and a story using those words that the students can both sound out and copy for handwriting practice.

I loved that the program was very simple to use. Since it was an ebook, I simply printed out the pages that we wanted to use. The first few pages of the chapter showed him what to do and then he was able to do a page a day independently. I think that even a younger child could work on the handwriting portion without much assistance. The reading would require more parental assistance (as does most any reading program) but is still very open and go without a lot of parental preparation.

Parents who are fairly confident in teaching phonics and want a simple, open and go program may really enjoy Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook . However, if you are looking for a program with lots of explicit directions and step by step scripts this is not the program for you. There were suggested schedules and teaching tips, but it was not a scripted program.

Be sure to check out Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook  at Everyday Education, LLC to get more information or to purchase the book. You can also check out my review of their Transcripts Made Easy book from last year.  Don’t forget to click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members who reviewed this book and see how they used it with their families.

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is a book that delves into the history of the seal of the United States, the signers and writers of the declaration whom also created the seal, and the symbolism of the seal. With almost 300 pages of historical information, 295 images, and interpretations this paper back book by Micheal Kanis is rich with history and research. Published by Hidden Message, LLC the book is a treasure trove of pictures and images relating to the founding of our nation.

The book begins with chapters discussing the significance of the seal, discussion of the values system, and information about studying the seal. Then he goes into chapters that discuss some of the key players in the creation of the seal. Then he goes into the various elements of the seal, before finishing up with research-based interpretations. Throughout the chapters it is clear that he is writing from a Christian perspective and he includes various scriptures in a few places, as applicable.

My thirteen-year-old son is an avid reader and has been reading this book over the last several weeks. He said that it was a good book, but it had a lot of information and was not one of those books he could just sit down and quickly read. He had to stop and think and digest what he was reading. While he does not mind reading fiction books of this length, he found the length combined with the depth of the information to be a bit daunting. He was reading about one chapter per school day and is a little over half way through the book.  My husband will be helping him work through the rest of the information a little bit at a time.

My husband, our resident history buff, also read part of the book and shared his opinion.

“The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is well researched and supported, yet not too academic in nature. Riding a fine line between broad history and specialist style evaluation and assessment of some of the most notable public symbols of the United States and her government, focusing the majority of the work on the Great Seal.  Author Michael Kanis delves into the past, exploring the “foundational truth” during the first nine chapters and setting the stage for Francis Hopkinson’s work on finalizing the seal in 1782. Hopkinson is of course closely associated with several early American symbols, perhaps most famously the flag, likely creating the 13 star and 13 stripe flag authorized by congress by the June 14, 1777 Flag Act. Kanis points out that the 1782 seal revision, which resulted in our current seal, was influenced by the new American flag.

Popular fiction aside, symbology is a deep and meaningful subject, well explored and easily subject to conspiracy theory.  Kanis steers clear of conspiracy and tends to walk a rather conservative path, building the symbology of the seal piece by piece. Exploring the history and inspiration for dozens of symbols incorporated into the nation’s seal.

I believe, Kanis’ ultimate message to be one of inspiration and hope. Echoing a theme from the scientific community. We can advance our society and improve our civilization by understanding the past and striving to improve ourselves as well. Kanis’ closing chapter focuses heavily on virtues and their importance in maintaining our freedom as a nation and a people.”

Overall, I think this is a well researched and written book, but it is a pretty dense piece of research, it’s not light reading and it definitely has a specific message and objective, the “rescue [of] a republic in peril”. From an educator’s standpoint I think this book would make a great unit study for something like a high school history club. Or perhaps as a component of an advanced civics class. I would not consider it light reading and for any student younger than high school it would probably need some guidance. I see our family using it again when we do high school civics in a couple of years as a component of our study of American government.

Be sure to check out at the book The Hidden Message of the Great Seal at the The Hidden Message, LLC  website to get more information or to purchase the book.  You can even get a 50% off discount if you purchase by May 30, 2020. Simply go to the website and use the code: HOMESCHOOL. Don’t forget to click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members who reviewed this book.

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Most of the time when I recommend books, I am sharing books that are fun to read with your children or to let your children read for themselves. If I am being totally honest, I don’t think I would call reading Not If, But When with my children fun. However, I do believe it was very beneficial and I am grateful to Christian Focus for the opportunity to review the book.

Not If, But When is a hardcover book written by John Perritt that covers the topics of Biblical sexuality and pornography. The books is 56 pages long and includes a variety of full cover illustrations by Alice Mastropaolo. It is designed to be read with children ages 7-11, though I got it to use with my twelve-year-old daughter because pornography was a topic that I knew we needed to discuss to make sure she knew how to handle it if she was accidentally exposed.

The book is divided into two main parts, one to be read with girls and the other part to be read with boys. They cover the same material and are written in very similar styles but the girl’s portion of the story has a mom and daughter discussing the topics and the boy’s portion uses a father and son.

Each story is divided into eight sections, each section teaches a lesson through the story and includes a Bible reference, main point, and question/statement about what was learned in that section. The story is based around a child seeing inappropriate pictures from friends, telling their parent, and then learning about God’s plan for sex and the sinful nature of pornography through a conversation with their parent.

For younger children, you may want to read one section at a time over the course of several days or weeks. It is carefully worded and appropriate but could be a lot of information to absorb at once. However, since I was dealing with an older child, we chose to go through it all in one afternoon session. I would read the story, she would use her Bible and read the scripture reference and then I answered any questions before moving onto the next section. I feel like it was a good way to open up the conversation in ways that were age appropriate and not overwhelming.

We also chose to go through parts of the book with my thirteen-year-old son. He had more background that my daughter but there were some points that I thought were important for him and this was a good way to get that conversation started. The story was written to a younger audience and so was a bit childish for him, but it did help us start the conversation and we were able to have a good discussion.

Overall, I think this book is a great way to start a conversation with your child about the appropriate context for sex and the dangers and evils of pornography in a way that is developmentally appropriate and God honoring.  Christian Focus recommends this book for ages 7-11 and I think that is a fair assessment.  While this book does not need to be your only conversation about sex with your child, it can give you a good foundation to start on and open up the dialogue between you and your child.

Be sure to check out at the Not If, But When book at the Christian Focus website to get more information.   Don’t forget to click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members who reviewed this book as well as several other Christian Focus titles .

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Over the last month, I had to the opportunity to review BJU Press Focus on Fives which is a kindergarten phonics and literature program that also includes science, heritage studies, and Bible.  The program is produced by BJU Press Homeschool.

The program arrived in two boxes and included the teachers manuals, write now book, phonics practice, worktext, review cards, teaching visuals, phonics flip charts, and reading books.

The program is split into five lessons per week. Each week has a theme, for example, week two was Firefighters at Work and week five was Healthcare Workers. The curriculum includes learning center ideas for each week as well as a snack of the week.

My kindergartner loved the program. He enjoyed singing the songs, learning about the different children that were included in the stories, seeing the puppets that helped you work through the program and the fun activities. He happily asked to do it each day.

Each day includes a variety of activities that may include singing songs, heritage study, listening story, comprehension questions, phonics and English skills, handwriting, science, Bible, and practice. Each day includes a variety of this activities but not all in one day. There are also extension activities that you could use at the end of every day that includes categories such as science, story time, arts and crafts, motor skills, and learning center.

In addition to the basic reading and phonics, students will learn about different community helpers, planting a garden, pets, and so much more. There are even review lessons included that can be used at different holidays such as: Labor Day, Veterans Day, Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Valentine’s and more.

I found that it took us about twenty or thirty minutes to get through a complete lesson without any of the extension activities.  The extension activities varied and based on which ones and how many you chose could take just a few minutes or several hours to complete everything.

The student does work in three books for their independent practice. The first is the Write Now! book which develops handwriting skills. It starts with lines and tracing, moves into letters, and by the end of the curriculum the student is copying sentences.  The phonics practice book starts with letters and moves into blends and words to coordinate with the lessons in the teacher’s manual. Finally, there is the worktext which includes a variety of activities such as matching, tracing, and cut and paste. The worktext works on different skills and often includes a connection to the theme for the week.

Extension activities includes suggestions such as drawing their favorite patriotic symbol, making a seed mosaic, using a carnation and food dye to understand how plants get water, tic-tac-toe with words, or show and tell of a favorite vegetable.

Overall, I think that this program is well laid out, has some great educational opportunities, and would give a child a firm foundation. I loved that Bible was interwoven into other aspects. For example, the alphabet song they used also taught them about Jesus. However, as a mother of four children, it was honestly more than I would want to try to keep track of and use for a whole year. It was a bit overwhelming with all of the different components and parts of it were more geared towards a classroom with multiple children. They have a series of videos coming out this summer that are designed to help teach the program through distance education. Those videos may help simplify the approach and make it easier for a parent to coordinate everything.

If you only have one or two children, your five-year-old is your youngest, or if you really want to replicate a classroom style program then this may be a great fit for you. It is a solid educational program that includes a lot of topics in one program.  The videos that are being released this summer might also make it more adaptable to large families and lower the parental time commitment.

Be sure to check out BJU Press Focus on Fives at the BJU Press Homeschool website to get more information.   Don’t forget to click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members and see how it worked for their families.