Albert Whitman Boxcar Children (Review)

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.

I have fond memories of reading the Boxcar Children books as a child and I have shared those memories and those books with my older two children. I was delighted to have the opportunity to review the The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set by Albert Whitman & Company with my five-year old son who had not yet known the delight of the Boxcar Children stories.

The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set that I received contained four hardcover books that each told a different tale from the Boxcar Children series. There are currently six books total in the early reader series, with two more books scheduled to be published this year.

When my son first opened the package, I noticed that the books were very bright and colorful which immediately drew him into them. As a mom, I also noticed that the hardbound books appeared to be very well made and sturdy. In a house with three boys (including a toddler) that can be very important to the longevity of a book.

Our set included:

The Boxcar Children

Mystery Ranch

The Yellow House Mystery

Surprise Island

We got started reading the same night that the books arrived, curling up together on the recliner to enjoy The Boxcar Children and how they first arrived at their home in the boxcar and eventually found their grandfather. We both enjoyed the fun story and the wonderful illustrations. The books are very colorful and engaging. Since he is not yet reading, I read each of the stories aloud to him. However, these are Time to Read Level 2 books, so if you had a beginning reader that was reading but not yet fluently enough for chapter books, they may could read them themselves with a bit of help.

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My son’s favorite of the series is Surprise Island and he has requested that we purchase the rest of the books. He is even planning on earning some money to help with the purchase. In addition to me reading the books with him, my older children enjoyed reading them aloud to him as well. Since he has heard them several times, he can now use the pictures and his memory of the story to ‘read’ the book himself by telling the story that goes along with the pictures.

I am not always a fan of abridged versions of books, but I love the way these shared the fun and wonderful stories and adventures of the Boxcar Children. I think they will encourage my son to want to read the full chapter books when he is a little bit older and able to read. If you had a fluent but reluctant reader, these books might help spark interest in reading the full-length books.

I am so glad we had the chance to check out these wonderful books and add them to our family library. Reading them with my son was lots of fun and made me look forward to the day when we could read the full-length books together. I will be keeping these books to read with my youngest son in a couple of years as well. Be sure to check out the website for more information about the The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members .

Fabulous Farm Themed Party Ideas

Whether you need to plan a birthday party for a child or you want to have a fun celebration at the end of a farm unit study, I have collected some really fun and super simple ideas. We celebrated my son’s birthday a couple weeks ago and rather accidentally and last minute decided on a farm theme for his party. On Wednesday before his Saturday party my plan had been a generic party, but my mom was picking up some plates for us and found some adorable farm themed ones. My son, who was turning two, loves our animals and playing with his toy tractors so it was a perfect fit.

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I decided that it would be a fun and easy to put together theme because we already had most of what we needed. We used his toy tractors and farm equipment and some of his farm books to provide the decorations and then added some fun themed food.

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First, we set up a variety of toy farm equipment on the mantel and on the table where we were serving food. I used a green table cloth to be the grass under the equipment. We even happened to have a barn decoration that had been up in my older son’s room years ago. We put that behind the table, but even without that you can make a really cute party with things that many folks already have at home.

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Next, I took to pinterest to see what kind of fairly easy finger foods I could find that had a farm theme and I was not disappointed. While there are plenty of more complicated options, we stuck with ideas that were easy to implement given our limited time frame. We had ‘chicken feed’ trail mix, ‘tractor tire’ Oreos, ‘garden plot’ veggie tray, ‘u-pick fruit stand’ cut fruit, ‘hay bale’ rice krispy treats, ‘mud bath’ chocolate pudding and animal crackers, and ‘chicken eggs’ deviled eggs. We did water and homemade lemonade to drink in mason jars (keeping it thematic and saving me from having to buy paper cups).

We could have printed out some farm themed color sheets or had a few farm themed games if we needed the time filler. However, we decided to go with a small ‘petting’ zoo made up of the chicks, goat, and chickens that we already had. It was a great opportunity for the other children to learn about and get up close and personal with some real animals.

While this certainly was not the fanciest birthday party I have ever seen, my son enjoyed it, the children all loved the decorations, and it was so simple and inexpensive to put together. I have included links below to the books we used to decorate as well as to the websites where I found the food ideas. Do you have any fun farm themed party ideas?

Favorite Farm Themed Books

On the Farm Shine a Light Book

Farm Animals.

Baby’s Very First Tractor Book

Otis series (My five year olds favorite)

Farm Touch and Trace (a big hit with my toddler)

Chicken, Chicken, Duck

Farm Themed Unit Study

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PRIDE Reading Program (Review)

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Learning how to read is certainly among the most important skills that I want my children to learn in our homeschool. Once they know how to read, they can spend a lifetime reading for both pleasure and education. We recently had the opportunity to review the PRIDE Reading Program Beginning Consonant Level Kit from the PRIDE Reading Program with my five-year-old kindergartner.

The first component to the program is an instructor training course. This online course walks you through each type of activity that you will be doing with your student to ensure that you understand the various directions and are ready to instruct your student. This course takes about 2-3 hours to complete and covers all levels of the program.

The PRIDE Reading Program is based on the Orton-Gillingham methodology and is a very structured approach to literacy. For the PRIDE Reading Program Beginning Consonant Level Kit each lesson is focused on a beginning consonant and has three sessions, an introduction, a practice, and a reinforcement session. We chose to complete one full lesson each week, thus doing reading three days a week and learning a new letter each week.

Each week consisted of basically the same activities, but with the new letter and a review of the letters that had already been covered. Each session included five or six short activities revolving around the letter. The sessions are laid out step by step on the computer for the teacher to read and work through with the student. Once you have completed that session you mark it complete and can move on to the next session.

On the days where my son was being cooperative and working hard, it took about 10-15 minutes to complete a session. Some days he loved the program and some days he resisted it and it took about 30 minutes to complete the lesson.

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The activities in each session were varied and multi-sensory, including sky writing, tracing, repeating, giving each sound a motion, and listening for the letter sounds. The step by step nature of the program made it very easy for a child to feel successful and make slow but steady progress. There is a lot of repetition which will work well to encourage mastery for those that are struggling with reading, but it may feel like too much repetition for a child that is not struggling. In that situation, I would suggest covering the information at a faster pace.

My son has been resistant to reading instruction, but I could tell that he was making progress and find him identifying the sounds he recognizes in words as we go about our day to day lives. For example, he came up to me repeating a word yesterday so that I could hear the /k/ sound for C.

If you are looking for a systematic Orton-Gillingham methodology approach to reading, this may be a great fit for your family. It is simple to use, takes only a few minutes a day, and is through enough to help ensure that a child fully grasps and retains the information presented. This program is perfect for someone that is looking for a step by step scripted approach to phonics. Be sure to check out the website for more information about the PRIDE Reading Program and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members who reviewed a variety of different levels of the program.

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Pilgrim’s Rock (Review)

Part of our homeschool vision is raising children who know and love the Lord and share that knowledge with the world. I was excited to be able to try the The Unbreakable Faith Course from Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC as a way to help my son achieve that goal.

The Unbreakable Faith Course is an apologetics course that is done online and accompanied by two books: The Box and God the Reason. The course can be used for high school credit and is recommended for ages 15+. Since my son is a little younger than the recommended age, I decided that we would work through the first part of the course materials together. This allowed me to get a better feel for his ability to be successful in the course and make sure that the content lined up with our personal beliefs.

We both started by reading The Box. This short and fairly easy read is required reading for part one of the course. The book gives an example of apologetics through the lens of a man who helps his atheist neighbor understand the truth about God. It was an easy read that took me less than two hours to complete. It was a bit over simplistic on its own but gave a good starting point for understanding apologetics.

Next, we moved on to reading the first chapters of God the Reason (this book was required reading for the course but broken up into chapters with chapters 1-2 being required for Part 1). This book was considerably more complex and denser than The Box and went much deeper into a solid understanding of apologetics. My son is a strong reader but he needed help understanding the complex content of the book.

Once we had completed the required reading, we watched the online videos that accompanied the course. These videos were done in a narrated PowerPoint style. The videos all started with hymns, which I really enjoyed. There was a lot of great information in the videos, however, my son found them to be a bit dry and would have preferred a more engaging style. He did however, retain the information from the videos, so they were effective.

Once we had completed the required reading and watched the videos for Part 1, my son took the computer graded quiz for that section. This was a timed, 25 question quiz. He missed a couple of answers but did very well overall and seemed to retain the information that was presented. I really appreciated that the program showed him which answers he got incorrect and explained the correct answer.

We then were able to move onto Part 2 which included more reading from God the Reason and additional videos. There are six parts which each part including reading, videos, and a quiz to check for understanding.

Overall, I think this apologetics course has a lot of really great information. I do believe that their age recommendation for 15+ is accurate for any student that is taking the course independently. I will have my son finish the course but we will work together so that I can ensure that he understands the complex concepts that are included in the course. Be sure to find out more about the course at Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members.

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Let’s Go Geography Year 2

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We have incorporated some geography in our history studies and in our travels, but I had been wanting to do a more systematic geography program with my children. It always seemed like one more thing to add to the to-do list, but as we have been reviewing Let’s Go Geography we found it was the perfect fit for integrating into our home. The program is designed for elementary aged students but I found it worked well for me to use it as a family study during our morning time. We were excited to have received the Let’s Go Geography, Year 2 program.

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We try to gather together each morning to spend some time reading, studying the Bible, learning about hymns and other music, and any other things that I want to teach all three of my school aged children. Over the last month we have been adding Let’s Go Geography to that list about three days a week.

” I really like this geography program. It is making me want to visit all of these places. ” Elizabeth, age 12

The year 2 curriculum started with an overview of the continents and oceans in the first week. Then it moved on to learning about various regions of the United States. I do want to note that it does not cover all of the regions of the United States. Some regions are covered in year 1 and some in year 2. Through the first semester it covers North and South America and begins Europe. Then, in the second semester it finishes Europe and covers Africa and Asia.

The program is set up in a series of lessons that cover a different section of the country and world. Each lesson includes mapping activities, a craft, musical selections, short videos of the area, flags, and other information about the area. We compiled these maps and projects into a notebook as we went through each lesson. We would do one or two parts of the lesson each morning for the three or four days a week we did geography and complete one lesson per week. If you wanted a more intensive study, you could spend more time and work through a lesson a day. There were also options for additional books and resources to dig deeper into the area. Overall, we spent about an hour to ninety minutes each week working through a lesson.

Each lesson is a separate downloadable PDF file that contains sections for each activity, printables, and links to the videos and other web-based materials. There are photographs of sights that are important to the region with short paragraphs explaining their importance. Each lesson contains two options for the craft portion, one is a simple coloring sheet that can be printed and the other a more complex (though not overly difficult) craft. I liked having both options so that we could decide which to do based on how much time we had that week.

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We really enjoyed this homeschool geography curriculum and found it to be a great fit for our morning time. the children were learning and having fun each time. They even started asking if we could do geography when we sat down in the mornings. I do wish that all of the regions of the United States has been included in one year, but otherwise we have no complaints about this program. It is also very reasonably priced at only $27.99 for two years access to the program (this gives you two years to download all of the lessons). Make sure to click on the graphic below and check out the other Crew Reviews to see how other families used this curriculum.

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Around the World in a Day: Disney World Geography Lessons

I shared a couple weeks ago about how we incorporated literature into our trip to Disney World. Today I want to share a little about how we used Disney World as a cultural/geography lesson (without the children feeling like they were in school).

During our time at Disney we were able to spend two days in Epcot, which ended up being my oldest son’s favorite park. A little of the first day and most of the second day we spent traveling ‘around the world’, visiting the 11 countries of Epcot’s World Showcase.

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First, we traveled to England. We had been looking forward to coming back here since our first family trip seven years ago. The fish and chips were as good as I remembered and it was a great opportunity to find a few of our favorite characters, Pooh Bear and Mary Poppins. This is also the area where you can occasionally find Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. While we were there, we also stopped at the Kidcot station. Each country that is represented in the World Showcase has a Kidcot station where children could speak with someone who is from that country, collect a postcard and sticker from the country, ask questions, and complete coloring pages or other small activities.

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We also took the opportunity to visit Canada on that first day. We enjoyed visiting the Kidcot station and looking around at the Canadian themed buildings. Unfortunately, the movie attraction that is normally available was closed for repairs while we were there.

The next day that we spent in Epcot we went all the way around the World Showcase! We started on the other side visiting Mexico where we watched an amazing band, then Norway where we enjoyed the Frozen ride and a tasty treat of ‘school bread’ a Norwegian favorite. We picked a variety of countries to enjoy lunch including China for some great Chinese food and my personal choice of a bratwurst with kraut from Germany.

In each country we were able to see building and attractions that represented that country, visit stores with merchandise from the country, try foods, visit the Kidcot station, and enjoy various entertainment acts. There were also a variety of character meet and greets of the characters from those countries. In particular we enjoyed meeting Belle and Aurora in France, Snow White in Germany, and Mulan in China.

There is also a great section based on the United States that has some wonderful music entertainment as well as The American Adventure, an Audio-Animatronics show where Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin debate the merits of the American experiment. This is also the location of a small but very interesting display of Native American artifacts.

Throughout our time at Epcot, we had lots of fun, enjoyed more than enough food, and met lots of really interesting people. It was a wonderful way for the children to learn more about various countries and geography without every feeling like they were ‘doing school’. You could easily follow this up at home with map work or research into the countries that you had ‘visited’ in Epcot.

Have you ever visited Epcot? What was your favorite part?

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Deals and Freebies

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

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)

Evan-Moor Top Student Workbook (Review)

Kindergarten has been an adventure with my five-year-old son. Some days he loves it and will do any work put before him and some days you would think I had asked him to write a dissertation and not merely his own name. Since he can be so moody about school, I am always looking for ways to get it done well but simply and quickly. I was excited to try out the Top Student Workbook because it included so many subjects all with-in one book.

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The kindergarten level of the Top Student Workbook includes: alphabet; math; shapes, colors, and patterns;phonics; mindful moments; early reading; reading comprehension; science; STEM; geography; social and emotional learning; and computer science. This makes it great for review and in many of those subjects this workbook could be a complete curriculum. The workbook is over 300 pages with a variety of activities to keep a student engaged and interested.

When it arrived, he was excited to check it out! He loved how colorful it was and that the different subjects had different color borders on the papers. This made it easy to flip between sections and for him to identify the sections he needed.

He has a tendency to leave his papers and work in various places and they can get lost or torn up by the toddler. However, having so many subjects located in one book meant it was easier to keep up with and no loose papers to get torn up by the toddler. We have been working hard to have him remember to put the workbook in his schoolbag when he is finished with his work.

Another feature that I appreciate as a mom is the answer key that is located in the back of the book. This might not be a huge deal for the kindergarten level, but these books go all the way up to 6th grade. While I can do the work in those upper grades, it saves a lot of time to have the answer key right there instead of having to work out the math problems.

We used the book in two different ways depending on our needs for the day. Some days I assigned him a page or two based on what we were working on in our primary curriculum. For example, when we worked on letter c in his new reading program I had him reinforce what we had learned by doing the letter C pages in the phonics section of the workbook.

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Other days, I allowed him to pick what subject he was interested in working on. He really enjoyed the STEM section which taught about water being able to be both a solid and a liquid. There was information that we read together, simple questions for him to answer, some matching and word tracing, and finally a science experiment that we could do together.

Most of the pages were simple workbook style activities that were done right there in the book and only needed a pencil. However, they also included a few more hands-on activities like science experiments, cutting and pasting, and optional craft activities to keep things interesting. For example, at the end of the alphabet section there is a letter dress-up project. The student would pick their favorite letter, pick a word that started with that letter, and then decorate the letter like that word. They gave examples of a B that was decorated like a bee and a U like a unicorn.

Overall, my son really enjoyed the colorful pages of this workbook. I appreciated having the review for so many subjects all together in one easy to use resource. I recommend this workbook for any parent that is looking for a resource to help them teach or review a variety of topics. They are also very reasonably priced at only $14.99. They are available directly from Evan-Moor or on Amazon. Be sure to check them out and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer:
I received a FREE copy of this product through from Evan Moor in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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2020 Reading List February Update

I have been really enjoying my reading time in 2020! I have tried to be very intentional about using spare minutes to read instead of browse the internet and I am finding that I have more time to read. I am also trying to go to bed a bit earlier and read a chapter or two in the evenings.

2020 Reading List Update

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So far, I have completed The Hobbit which, I was reading with my oldest son. I am not always a huge fiction reader but I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy later this year. I also read Better Together by Pam Barnhill. This was just the motivation I needed to really get our morning time back on track. She had so many good ideas and real life strategies. Finally, I am in the process of reviewing The Unbreakable Faith course by Pilgrim’s Rock and I read The Box as a part of that review. I will be sharing a full review in a few weeks but I think it is a great introductory book for those wanting to learn more about apologetics.

I am also currently in the process of reading another five books. That sounds like a large number to be reading, but several of them are intentionally read over a longer period of time and I like to keep a couple of different types of books so that I can chose depending on my mood. We are using Core 52 as a family in conjunction with my church and really enjoying digging deeper into God’s word. I am also enjoying the encouragement of Mom Heart Moments by Sally Clarkson when I can steal a few minutes of quiet in the morning.

I have started Plan Your Year by Pam Barnhill. I love planning but was feeling a little stressed about next year when I will have a high school student, middle school student, 1st grader, and a two year old. That is a wide range and I want to make sure that I can create a realistic plan for meeting everyone’s needs. One of the things that I have really enjoyed with Plan Your Year was creating a vision for our homeschool that really clarified my goals for our children. I am looking forward to continuing to work my way through the book.

Nurtured by Love was written by Shin’ichi Suzuki and is recommended reading for anyone with a child in Suzuki music lessons. I didn’t take the time to read it when my daughter started violin almost a year and a half ago, but given that she is now in both violin and piano Suzuki lessons and two of my sons are in violin I decided it was time. So far, it has been a very interesting read. I do not necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, but I think he had some wonderful ideas and his music program is very effective.

Finally, I have been reading Rhythms of Renewal. In our fast pace society it is so easy to be over committed, over tired, and burnt out. I love the idea of intentionally setting up rhythms of renewal. I have been enjoying this book so far and gleaned some great ideas about creating rhythms in my own life.

I look forward to finishing Rhythms of Renewal and Nurtured by Love this month. Once I have finished those books I will probably start Parenting Beyond the Rules. I also hope to read When Less Becomes More in March. I will also be starting Little Women with my daughter in March once she has finished the book she is currently working on in her literature program. What books are you reading this year? I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these or recommendations of what to add to my list.

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Deals and Freebies

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

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)

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

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

Field Trip Friday: Kennedy Space Center

Our family had the opportunity to visit Florida last month and we had a wonderful time! The primary purposes of our trip were to visit some family in Daytona Beach and to visit Disney World. However, my husband has always wanted to take the children to visit Kennedy Space Center, and so I purchased tickets to the Space Center for his Christmas gift and worked out an extra day in Florida. I am so glad that I did, not only did he really appreciate it, the children had a lot of fun and learned so much.

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I am a planner by nature but honestly I did very little planning for this trip because I wanted to allow my husband to show the children the things that were most important to him. When we arrived we looked over the map and schedules and decided to start with the bus tour and a visit to the Apollo/Saturn V center. The bus tour was a really great way to get an idea for the scope and scale of these rockets and the complex. From the bus we were able to see various launch pads, a SpaceX rocket that was going to launch in a couple of weeks, the crawlers that move the rockets, and the enormous building where the rockets are build and stored (with the largest doors in the world).

The tour ended over at the Apollo/Saturn V center. There we were able to to see various memorabilia including space suits worn on the moon, a real piece of moon rock, and more. My children’s favorite was Alan Shepard’s space suit. We also had fun letting the children dress in space suits and take pictures on a green screen. The pictures were then put onto ‘space’ backdrops making them look like they were on the moon or hanging out in space. There was a lunar module and ‘moonscape’ that you could view. There was also a movie available at this location. There was a restaurant with sandwiches, pizza, and salads.

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Next, we caught the bus back over the the main center to check out all of the other buildings and exhibits. We went over the the Atlantis building where we started with a short video, I don’t want to give too many spoilers but the video was great and ended with a wonderful surprise. Then we had the opportunity to take a good look at the space shuttle Atlantis. Also located in this building were lots of interactive exhibits. There was a even a slide and a play area modeled after the International Space Station. There were interactive video games and virtual reality stations where you could learn about the space shuttles. There is also a Shuttle Launch Simulator for those that are 44 inches and taller. My son and husband enjoyed this experience. Also located in this building is a beautiful memorial to those that died in the Challenger and Columbia crashes.

While my son and husband were in the Shuttle Launch Simulator, the rest of decided to take a break with a bit of ice cream and try out the play area. This area was designed for younger children (I believe it was 10 and under) and provided a great place for them to play and explore in the shade.

There was a small building dedicated to the new Mars program which included an interesting live talk, virtual reality, various movies, and a prototype Mars Rover. My daughter also enjoyed the opportunity to meet with real astronaut, Tom Jones, and have him autograph his book, Ask the Astronaut.

Another wonderful exhibit was the Heroes and Legends building. This building had exhibits and interactive displays about various astronauts and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. My children enjoyed learning more about the astronauts that we had studied prior to our arrival and learned about throughout the day. Finally, we also walked through a ‘garden’ of shuttles and rockets that showed the progress through the history of the space program. We did not get a chance to see it, but several times a day they do guided tours through the garden.

There is a lot to see at Kennedy Space Center and I would advise you to plan on a full day and possibly two days depending on your level of interest and if you wanted to add on any of the special tours. In addition to the various attractions that we visited there are several movies, including and I-max, that are included with your admission. There is also a small museum related to the national park on which the space center is located.

Overall, we really enjoyed out trip to the Kennedy Space Center and would love to go back in a couple of years and spend a little more time exploring and learning about the space program. Prior to going we listened to Heroes of History: Alan Shepard, and I think that helped my children really make connections to what they were seeing. Since we have returned home, they are independently reading and listening to a variety of books about space.

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Where:

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex,

Space Commerce Way, Merritt Island, FL 32953

Hours of Operation:

seven days a week, year-round, Open at 9am (closing time varies by season)

Costs: $57 adults (12+) Children (3-11) $47 ( I also recommend looking online for discounts, we found several for the dates we were going,)

Website: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/

Food: There are several restaurants as well as snacks available for purchase.

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Deals and Freebies

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

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)

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

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

Hymn Study: Sweet By and By

Sweet By and By is a hymn that I remember singing many times as a young girl in church, but I do not hear it as often any more. It is a beautiful song that brings back many memories and emotions. The hymn was written in 1868 by Sanford Fillmore Bennett. I found it very interesting to note that the words were written in an effort to cheer up Joseph Webster who wrote the music to accompany the words, and the whole song was produced in under thirty minutes. Since then the song has become a classic that is included in many hymnals and has been sung by famous singers including Elvis and Louis Armstrong. My daughter will be thrilled to learn that the music was created using a violin, her favorite instrument.

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In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore.

If you live near a river or lake, this could be a great tie into nature study. You can visit the shore and talk about how God is the creator of all and the beauty that is all around us. Then you can talk about how much more beautiful and perfect it will be in heaven.

This song is also a great one to use in discussing various musical styles. This song has been performed in a traditional hymn style, with gospel influences, and is quite popular among jazz artists. We enjoy listening to hymns like this in a variety of styles and discussing the similarities and differences. I have included examples of some of the different styles in the resources below.

If you want to add a little art to this study, you can check out the Sweet By and By art lesson with Nana from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels. This is a fun way to engage your little artists in hymn study or your musicians in art. You have access to this lesson as of 1/31, if you are an You Are An Artist Clubhouse Member You can also have them draw what they see in their minds as they listen to the song or a picture of what they saw when you did your nature study.

For a little extra fun, you could read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder where she talks about this hymn being Pa’s favorite. Let us know in the comments what hymns you would like us to cover next!

Hymn Study Resources:

Hymn Story

Sheet Music and Information

Video with Lyrics

Sweet By and By Johnny Cash

Jazz style Instrumental

Sweet By and By Southern Gospel

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Hymn Study Fact Sheet

Sweet By and By Copywork

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