M is for Mandie

When I was a young girl I fell in love with the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard. In a time before Amazon and other online retailers, my mom would take me to our local Christian bookstore and I would purchase one or two new books. I would begin reading them as soon as we got into the car and often finished at least one of them before I went to sleep that evening. They were engaging, entertaining, and full of adventure.

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Fast forward a ‘few’ years and my eleven year old daughter is now also enjoying these books. I even found out that there were movies made about the first few books and we have enjoyed watching them together. We even found out that the movies were filmed in our home state and we had been to the ‘mansion’ in the movie that now serves as a visitor’s center for a park.

mandie mansion

These books tell of the many adventures of Mandie and her friends Cecilia and Joe. Mandie is helped by her Uncle Ned; who is a Native American friend of her father. After her father dies, she goes to live with her uncle and continues to find mysteries to solve. Adventures seem to await her with every turn of events. Mandie goes through some difficult circumstances during the course of the book, but she learns to trust in God to help her through adversity.

While the main character is a girl, these books are truly fun for girls and boys. They are clean wholesome fiction that will excite and engage readers. I would recommend the Mandie series for upper elementary and middle grades readers.

Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter M. Have you read any of the Mandie series?

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Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

May Sale

Fit2B just announced they are having a Mother’s Day sale! Use code mothersday25off for 25% off! We use this for both my personal fitness and some of our PE for the kids (all included in one membership). A great way to get you safely moving and incorporate fitness into a busy day.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

The Tummy Team is having a 35% off sale! This makes for some very reasonably priced online rehab programs or esessions. I am excited to be getting a course to help me get back to being in my best health! I have loved the other courses that I have taken from them and they are so helpful and supportive. I know this one is not directly homeschool related but it affects so many moms that I wanted to share.

Nothing (A Scriptural Picture Book Review)

Nothing by Natalee Creech from WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group was a fun book review. I requested this review to read with my five-year-old son and I am so glad that I did! He was excited to get the book in the mail and had me read it to him as soon as he opened the package.

nothing cover

The first thing that I noticed with this book was the adorable cover. The dust jacket on this hard cover book is an adorable illustration of a rocket ship at the top and a scuba diver on the bottom. The fun illustration by Joseph Cowman makes you immediately want to open the book and find out more.

I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers ³⁹or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. Romans 8:38-39 CEB

The book is based on Romans 8:38-39, which talks about how nothing can separate us from God’s love. The author includes that scripture in the beginning of the book and then goes through and explores that thought throughout the book. After the scripture she asks the question, ” Can anything separate me form God’s love?” and then on each page she talks about different things and how they cannot separate us from God’s love. For example, the deepest sea, an overseas flight, the desert, moon, etc. It even talks about how doing what we shouldn’t do, doesn’t change God’s love for us.

20190513_141128 — One of his favorite pages!

The illustrations are beautiful and full color. They help really engage the young reader (or listener as the case may be) into the story. I love how it really brings a verse of scripture to life. In addition to listening to me read the book, my five year old enjoyed looking at the pictures on his own. He was even able to ‘tell’ the story as he looked at the pictures once we had read the book a couple of times. Though he did not know it word for word, he understood the pattern of the story and the pictures gave him plenty of clues.

This was a great way to help my son internalize this scripture verse and it would make a beautiful gift for a birthday or Christmas. I would recommend it for ages 3 to 6 as the simple nature of it makes it easy for a young child but might be boring for older children. I encourage you to check out the other reviews from the Review Crew at the link below and visit the WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group website to learn even more about Nothing by Natalee Creech.

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L is for Lemoncello and Lifegiving

Today I want to share a children’s book and a mom book for the letter L. I thought that I was going to tell you about a series of three children’s books that my children thoroughly enjoyed; only when I went online to find the link for you I realized that as of this week it is actually a four book series! The Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series is a funny series that encourages reading and having fun with books and libraries. We have not yet read book four since I just found out about it, but I think we will use one of our audible credits so that we can listen to it on our next long car ride.

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My friend Jennifer, who blogs over at Homeschool Fanatic introduced me to this book series a couple of years ago and the children fell in love with it. The books tell about the eccentric Mr. Lemoncello and the games and adventures that he orchestrates, including saving a library and hosting crazy library games in which children compete for prizes by finding answers using the library’s resources. These chapter books are great read alouds for elementary through middle school or independent reads for late elementary or middle grades. They are light and funny but have a great message. So grab a few glasses of lemonade, and enjoy these books with your children.

When I think of books that begin with L and moms, my mind immediately goes to the Lifegiving Home and the Lifegiving Table. These wonderful encouraging books by Sally Clarkson are perfect for encouraging women to create a home environment that is life giving for their families and for those that we invite into our homes. I have found that these books both encouraged me and challenged me to create an environment that shares God’s love with all of those whom enter my home or sit at my table. There are practical ideas and lofty ideals all wrapped up in an easy and enjoyable read. If you have not yet had a chance to check these out, I encourage you to purchase a copy and read them this summer. You can find out more about these books by reading some of the blog posts I did as I worked through them as a book study.

Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter L. Have you read any of the Lemoncello series or the books by Sally Clarkson?

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

May Sale

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Hamelin Stoop Series (Review)

As much as I love reading, fantasy has never been my favorite genre. However, my son really enjoys it. Finding quality books that meet our family’s standards can be difficult, so I was excited to review the first two book in The Hamelin Stoop Series by 12 Gates Publishing. This series is written by Robert B. Sloan and was his debut into novels. Prior to this debut into fiction he was known for his work in nonfiction books and articles. He is also the president of Houston Baptist University.

We received Hamelin Stoop: The Eagle, The Cave, and the Footbridge (Book 1) and Hamelin Stoop: The Lost Princess and the Jewel of Periluna (Book 2). My husband read book one before we passed them along to my twelve year old son to read. The book is engaging and full of adventure. However, my husband did note that there are some very intense scenes in the book. There are scenes of torture and implied infanticide (this is not condoned but performed by the evil characters). There’s also a short story arch that focuses on two characters conceiving a child for their the evil overlord. We felt that is was appropriate for our twelve year old and he was able to handle the intensity and mature situations, however, I would not have read it aloud to my younger children as I think it would have been too much for them.

I think these books would be great for people who like books about other worlds. They were exciting and I want to find out what happens in the end. Matthew, Age 12

A brief overview of book one in the words of my twelve year old son:

“A baby boy got left on the steps of an orphanage in Texas because his parents were

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being chased by people from another world. The orphanage director found him in a tomato box on the front steps with a note that only had one readable word “Hamelin”. She kept the name and added Stoop as his last name since she found him on the step. He grew up and found a cave and followed a strange eagle until he found a strange footbridge to the other world.”

20190501_154234 The second book picks up where the first book left off and furthers the story of Hamelin and his quest to find his parents. We also meet two new characters Lars and Eraina while learning more about the evil Chimera. Each book answers some of our questions but leaves more questions for the next book.

All in all these books have a lot to offer to the right audience. I think that they offer an exciting story set in a fantasy world. While they are intense and mature, they also do not contain the inappropriate material found in many of the books in the young adult/middle grades fantasy genre. Every child is different but I would recommend these books for middle grades and older students. My son is looking forward to the next book in the series when it is published! I encourage you to check out the other Crew reviews below and to read more about the The Hamelin Stoop Series on the website.

J is for Jules Verne…

I decided to switch it up a little bit this week. Instead of focusing on a specific children’s book I wanted to talk a little bit about an author. Our family just finished listening to the audio book, Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. We have also listened to his novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Those are two of his most well known novels, but he wrote over sixty books.

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His writing is lengthy, a bit wordy like the British Victorian tradition, and might be a bit difficult for younger readers to follow, but he has some wonderful stories that are perfect for middle school and high school students. They are full of adventure and often a bit of science fiction. There are many abridged versions but, I think the full-length versions are best to really get the benefits of the depth of language (despite being translated from the original French) and character development.

I remembered 20,000 Leagues under the Sea from when I was a child, but I had never read or listened to Around the World in 80 Days. I found it to have a bit of a slow start but once the story really got going it was a great story. It told of a man who had made a bet that he could travel the whole globe in 80 days. This was of course in a time before airplanes made it easy to travel the world in a day. The book told of his adventures and setbacks as he made his way from country to country using boats, trains, carriages and other interesting conveyances. The children really enjoyed it and were quick to remind me to turn it on each time we got in the car.

Have you read any of Jules Verne’s work? Do you have a favorite? I would love to hear your thoughts about this author or any of his works. Don’t forget to check out the other J posts this week and come back next week for the letter K.

PS. If you really wanted to children’s book that begins with the letter J, check out James and the Giant Peach. Someone reminded me of that book this week and it was one my children really enjoyed. We had the chance to read it aloud and then watch the musical based on the story. Do note that there is one use of a word that is commonly considered to be inappropriate.

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale! If you want to give it a try, your first month is only $1 or you can get an entire year for $111. My daughter is getting ready to use a photography class from our subscription to help her learn more about her new (to her) camera.

April showers

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Are you ready for some spring cleaning? Need to do a little decluttering?

What is your scariest place to declutter?

There is a great FREE Decluttering Challenge going on right now. If you are looking for some help or encouragement join this FREE declutter challenge.

I is for If You Give A Mouse A Cookie…

I struggled a bit with books for the letter I. There were not any that jumped out at me at first and then I was looking at my son’s book shelf and thought of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and the others in the series by Laura Numeroff. This series is perfect for read aloud time! I am even thinking about using them for a special ‘tea party’ featuring some of the foods from the books.

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If you have not seen these books, the premise of the book is that if you give a mouse a cookie he will want a glass of milk, and he will need a straw, and on and on it goes. It is a cute little book that is lots of fun to read with young children. The patterned language allows them to quickly pick it up and begin to help you ‘read’ it even when they are not yet actually reading. Other books in the series feature pig, moose, and other animals and their adventures. The illustrations by Felicia Bond are absolutely adorable.

There is even a free movie series made about the books on Amazon Prime. I have not seen all of these but we enjoyed the Christmas Cookie episode. There have also been cute poems and memes made using the same language pattern, such as this If You Give A Mom a Muffin example.

These are simple fun reads that are great for preschool and elementary age students. Have you tried this series? Which one is your favorite?

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Deals and Freebies

April showers

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Only A Few Days Left to Sign Up For the Free Independent Play Challenge:

It sometimes seems that the kids need you ALL. THE. TIME!

It’s okay to just want 20 minutes of quiet… so you can get things done.

Join the FREE Independent Play 5-Day Challenge!

H is for Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24

Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24 holds a special place in my heart. My husband wrote it, and the two lead characters are heavily based on my two oldest children. It is a historical fiction novel based on the Vietnam War. It was inspired by my son’s interest in the war and his relationship with several veterans. When my husband started looking for books for him to read, they often had content that we found inappropriate for children (drugs, language, relationships, etc). He wanted to create a book that would be interesting to students, give an accurate historical picture, and still be appropriate for a younger audience.

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History in the Book

During the story, the reader experiences basic training, flight school, twelve months of life, service, and sacrifice in Vietnam. These stories are told by a veteran helicopter pilot who lives next door as Matt and Ellie develop a friendship with their neighbor, Mr. Ed.

Throughout the story, there are references to current events and culture of the 1960s, life in the Army, flight physics, and modern life lessons for young folks. Chris tried to create an immersive environment to share a typical story and give background information about a controversial war. He also worked to take a moderate position, helping to explain either polarized side of the debate.

Using the Book

This book is a great addition to a US History course, a fun read aloud for any age level, and is a good independent read for upper elementary and middle grades students. While I am sure they are just a little biased since they are on the front cover, it really is my children’s favorite letter H book. My son has read his copy over twenty times. I highly encourage you to check Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24 out and let me know what you think!

As a bonus we are running a give away in honor of the one year publishing anniversary! You can find that giveaway HERE.

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Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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Deals and Freebies

April showers

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

It sometimes seems that the kids need you ALL. THE. TIME!

It’s okay to just want 20 minutes of quiet… so you can get things done.

Join the FREE Independent Play 5-Day Challenge!

Transcripts Made Easy (Review)

Some days I’m really excited about preparing my son for high school and college; other days I’m in denial about how rapidly that season is approaching. We started our homeschool journey when my oldest son began first grade and he is now finishing seventh grade. My first thought when the review for Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork by Janice Campbell became available was that the review would not apply to me since I did not have a high school student. Then I quickly realized that with my son taking Algebra in eighth grade next year I would need to decide how I was going to do his transcript. I had never heard of Everyday Education but a quick look around their website showed me that they had a lot to offer and I was excited to read the book.

Transcripts made Easy

We reviewed a digital copy of the book but my need to highlight gets the best of me and so I printed out the pages so that I could hold them in my hands and highlight things that I found interesting or important. I like to read in bed at night before I go to sleep but I was a little worried that this material might be too dense for bedtime reading. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Though there is a lot of information, the author’s style of writing made for easy reading.

Based on the title, Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork, I was expecting information on how to make a transcript, forms, and recording keeping. While all of that is included, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more was packed into this book. The book goes through the planning process for high school and helps you decide what classes your student needs to study, skills and habits that they need to cultivate, various ways that you can schedule high school courses, college alternatives, special needs considerations, and how to document life experiences. I read the book through in just a couple of days, highlighting as I went along, but I plan to go back and reference this book again and again as we plan for and work our way through high school.

I really appreciated the fact that the book was trying to present a one-size fits all answer to our students. For example, when she talked about scheduling high school courses she gave six different schedule examples. Some of those, like college-style schedule and year round schooling, were familiar to me but there were others like sequential scheduling and the one-subject plan that were new concepts for me. After reading over our options, my husband and I are discussing the pros and cons of various methods to help us decide on a plan for my son.

The book also talks about how to document life experiences and skills. For example, Campbell shares how you could document work done on a family farm or time spent learning to create a web page.

“Do not let educational experiences slip by because you can’t think where to fit them on the transcript-just add them to a Subject Worksheet and consult the Course Classification System for ideas on where they will fit. …Your student is learning daily from all that happens, and there is no reason why informal learning experiences cannot be structured to become credit-earning courses and preparation for life.”

I highlighted that quote in my book because we highly regard those life experiences I really appreciated that they could be used for part of his high school courses. She goes further into detail in the book as to how to document those experiences.

The books goes over grading, how to grade, what to grade, and even how to write a transcript for those that are using the unschooling method for high school. She did not give one right formula but lots of examples and options that you can use to make it work for your family and still have an honest transcript.

Then at the end after having worked through planning high school, keeping records, grading, preparing for college or non-college options, there are multiple examples of transcripts and other record keeping forms. She gives blank copies of the forms in the back as well as detailed instructions for creating those forms in a word processing program. She even gives examples and help with diplomas.

The final portion of the book is a glossary of important terms, a book list for parents, and a list of websites and resources that can are helpful for planning and learning. I had read several of the books, but I’m looking forward to checking out a couple of the ones with which I was not familiar.

All in all, I think Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork is a great resource for middle school and high school parents. This book can help you prepare for high school or if your student is already in high school it can help you get your records and forms together for college or whatever experiences your student is preparing for after high school. Check it out over at Everyday Education and don’t forget to check out what other Crew members thought about this book.

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Orville Wright: The Flyer, Heroes of History (A Review)

When I saw that we were going to have the opportunity to request to be on a review for YWAM Publishing I knew my son was going to be excited. He already has several books from their Heroes of History series, and was excited to be able to request a new title. After looking over the list his first choice was Orville Wright. As a child I was fascinated with the Wright Brothers and my son seems to share that interest. Living only a few hours away from where they made that first historic flight makes them even more interesting.

ywampinterest

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Once we got news that we were selected for the review, we started watching the mail and waiting for the book to arrive. He was quite excited to open it and start reading when it arrived a few days later. Considering that we intended to use the Study Guide to accompany the book I had planned to take 2-3 weeks to go through the book, he loved it so much he completed the entire book in just a few days. He then used the book as he went back through and did the study guide activities.

The Heroes of History series are all biographies of heroes that had a historical impact and told from a Christian perspective. Some of these go back to the founding of our country, men such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Others are more modern day heroes like Ben Carson and Billy Graham. Orville Wright sits in the middle of those, living from 1871 to 1948.

Orville Wright: The Flyer, tells of the life of Orville Wright from the time he was about six years old. It includes stories of him and his siblings playing with rubber band flyers when they were young, how they loved kites, and how they learned to fly. They began the first chapter looking ahead to a flying accident in which Orville broke his leg and then went back to his childhood. This was very memorable to my son who actually said, “I like how the authors use one of the most tragic moments to introduce the book.”

Study Guide Table of Contents

The study guide is a PDF including 83 pages of ideas and activities. You could use this to make the book into a complete unit study or you can pick and choose activities to make it fit your needs. There are discussion questions for each chapter, writing prompts, creative writing activities, hands on projects, and arts and crafts. It also includes a timeline activity, basic information sheet, and several maps. We chose to select a variety of activities to expand on his learning through the book.

20190405_121250 — Fact Sheet, Map, and Timeline

I started by having my son complete the basic information sheet, timeline and a couple of the maps to help him show me what he had learned while reading the book. He then chose a writing project and a hands-on component from the study guide and we finished it off with a field trip to the Wright Brothers Museum in Kitty Hawk.

For his writing project he chose, “As Wilbur did in 1896, write a letter to the Smithsonian Institution, requesting information about an area that interests you. You can contact the museum at Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, P.O.Box 37012, MRC508, Washington, DC, 20013–7012 or via e-mail at learning@si.edu.” This was a lot of fun for him and he is waiting and hoping to get a response from them on his request for information.

Hands On Drill Project

For his hands on project, he chose to find a small household machine that he could take apart and study. He found an old drill. He took it apart, labeled each of the parts, and shared with us how the parts worked together to make the drill run.

Inside the life saving station (now a resturaunt)

Wright Brothers Memorial

Life Saving Station

We finished our unit study off with a wonderful field trip to the Wright Brothers monument and national park. We had a lot of fun learning even more about the brother, running down the runway and flight path of those very first flights, and even eating lunch in the lifesaving station from which the famous telegraph of their success was sent in 1903.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” I think that Orville Wright: The Flyer like the other books from YWAM Publishing offer children great examples of real life heroes. The books work great as a family read aloud, independent reading, or complete unit studies when combined with the study guides. If this book interest you, you might also want to check out my review of one of the other books in the series about Alan Shepard . You can also click below to check out the variety of reviews by other Crew members. There are so many great choices to choose from.

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G is for Green Ember

Who doesn’t like talking rabbits? Add in a few swords and some classic good vs evil action and you have a recipe for a great family read aloud. This great series by SD Smith is one of our family favorites. The first book took a few chapters to really get into, but after that, we were all ‘hooked’. We actually enjoy listening to these as audio books on our travels, but my son also has the paperback versions of most of them so he can also read them independently.

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The main characters are rabbit siblings Heather and Pickett. At the beginning of the Green Ember they lead very ordinary rabbit lives, but then a series of tragic events lead them on an exciting adventure of fighting for both their safety and good vs evil. The book is exciting and not gratuitously graphic but it might be a little intense for some young readers. There are battle scenes and the audio version has some very good sound effects.

“I really liked that the rabbits were able to fight off the villains. It was full of adventure and excitement. You never knew what was going to happen next.” Matthew, age 12

We thoroughly enjoyed this book and the others in this series. I always appreciate being able to give my children fun examples of bravery, valor, honestly, and other important values. C.S. Lewis once said, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” I think these books are a great example of offering our children stories of brave knights and heroic courage.

My daughter also really wanted me to mention Gooney Bird Greene as a G book that she really enjoyed. Gooney Bird Greene is about a young girl named Gooney Bird and her adventures at school. It is a great choice for students that are just getting into chapter books.

Have you read the Green Ember before? I noticed that it is currently free with kindle unlimited. What is your favorite ‘G’ book? I would love for you to share in the comments and let us know.

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