Letters From Katie Luther (Review)

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Please see disclosure below for more details.*

Earlier this month when I shared about what I had read this summer, I did not tell you about this fun book that I had a chance to review. I was privileged to receive a copy of Letters From Katie Luther by Shirley Casemier, which I read and then passed along to my twelve year old daughter.

While I know and understand the basics of the life of Martin Luther, I had never really considered his wife. I loved that this book provided more information about her as well as a different perspective on his life. The book is written as a series of letters from Martin’s wife Katie to her friend Ave.

The story begins while they are still in a convent, shares their escape, tells of how Martin Luther helped them, and then goes on to share about Katie’s marriage to Martin, how they raised their children, his work and ministry, and eventually their deaths. While there was a lot of heart ache and tragedy in their lives (the death of children, plagues, persecution), there was also much to be thankful for. The book read in such a way as to deal with those tragedies without being overly morose or sad.

The way the book was written in letters really helped to make the people ‘come alive’ in my mind. It is easy to read facts in biographies and yet not connect with their stories. However, by writing it as a series of letters and including family information, I felt like I was viewing Katie not just as the wife of Martin Luther, but as a mother, a friend, and a fellow sister in Christ.

“I really liked the way it described Katie Luther life in letters with her best friend that was a great way and easy to keep track of what was going on.” Elizabeth, age 12

At the end of the book the author provides a section of information that lets you know which parts of the book were non-fiction and which parts were fictionalized. I really appreciated that section. While I understand why the author took some creative liberty, I think it was important to understand the differences in the book and real life. For example, a few of the names were changed in the story for clarity, some of the ages were different, and the friend with whom the letters were exchanged actually died before Katie, but the author had her die later so she could finish the story with the letters. The author also includes a list of some of the books and resources she used for the factual components of this fictionalized biography.

Overall, we really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it for ages 12+ or possibly as a family read aloud. There is a lot of great information in an easy to understand format. It could work well to supplement a Reformation Day study or as an introduction to Martin Luther. You can find out more or purchase your own copy at Reformed Free Publishing Association or from Amazon.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you are looking for ways to keep your young children learning but active, join the FREE Learning Without Worksheets Challenge. Starts on October 5th but sign-ups are open now!

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The Color Orange

The Review Crew is writing about the color orange this week. While I don’t have any deep thoughts or insightful ponderings about the color, I did want to share a few of my favorite things that are orange.

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Pumpkins and Fall Leaves

Sunsets

(because I don’t often get up early enough for the sunrise)

Campbell University

( I spent six and half years at Campbell getting an undergraduate and a masters degree. It is where I meet my husband as well as some of the best lifelong friends a girl could ever ask for. We are all quite disappointed to not be going back for Homecoming this year due to COVID. Can’t wait for next year. Go Camels!)

What do you love about the color orange? Make sure to check out all of the other Review Crew posts this week to see what they have to say about the color orange. Also, if you want a little more orange fun, check out this series of Orange Workouts from my friend Beth over at Fit2B.

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Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource
library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the
library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter
email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including
Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t
believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links.
It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you are looking for ways to keep your young children learning but active,
join the FREE Learning
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now!

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Refreshment Retreat! with Rachael Carman October 9th and 10th. Sign-up
today!

If you have not tried
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Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

This time of year, you start hearing a lot about pumpkin spice, but at the risk of offending half my readers, I do not care for pumpkin spice. However, I love pumpkins. I am excited to share some fun pumpkin activities, books, and recipes that you can use with your children.

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Pumpkin Recipes

Pumpkins are not only tasty but also super nutritious, so I love being able to add them to various recipes during the fall and winter months. Pumpkin has lots of vitamins but is particularly well known for being high in vitamin A and antioxidants.

Some of our favorite ways to incorporate pumpkin are pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, and of course, pumpkin pie. We also love to roast pumpkin seeds for a tasty snack. This year I want to try this pumpkin hummus recipe and pumpkin french toast.

You can also check out this super simple pumpkin cookie recipe.

Decorating Pumpkins

While people often carve pumpkins in October, we prefer to find other ways to decorate them. A carved pumpkin will only last a couple days, but if you use other methods, it can last for weeks. Last year we melted crayons onto pumpkins, but we have also used paint, markers, stickers, and even these Mr. Potatohead Pumpkin kits.

Thankful Pumpkin

If you don’t want to decorate your pumpkin in the traditional sense, you might enjoy using it as a way to share your gratitude. I have seen some great pictures of people who have used their pumpkins to write down what they are thankful for. They start at the top of the pumpkin and add more daily until it is full.

Pumpkin Books

We always like adding books to our studies. Some of our favorite pumpkin books are Spookley the Square Pumpkin and The Pumpkin Runner. I plan to check out some additional pumpkin books from the library this week and would love for you to share your favorite titles in the comments.

This year we are hoping to finish out our study with a trip to a local farm with friends. They have pumpkins, hay rides, and a corn maze. Many activities have been canceled, so we were excited to find this fun fall activity still open.

If you are looking for a few more ideas, make sure to check out our post about pumpkins from last year and check out all of the other Review Crew posts this week. You can also check out some of the pumpkin activities that we did with our Teaching Library Review.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

Family and relationships are so important in our homes, but they can also be challenging. Check out this FREE homeschooling summit that is focusing on family relationships.

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My Teaching Library Download Club (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.

This post contains affiliate links, see below for more information.

Our family has been spending some time checking out the My Teaching Library Download Club over the last month. The Download Club membership allowed us to use as many of the products on the site as we wanted during the time of our membership and we found lots of resources to try.

The site offers resources for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade and even resources for organization and classroom management. The resources can be sorted by grade and topic and there are thousands to choose from. In addition to sorting activities by grade and subject, they also have monthly activities, seasonal activities, and special holiday activities. All of the resources are included in the membership or they can be purchased individually.

Most of the resources that we utilized were for my toddler and my first grader. As we were starting back to school and enjoying the slightly cooler weather (at least for a few days), I wanted to do some fall and pumpkin activities with them. There were quite a variety to choose from that included coloring pages, poetry, writing, science projects, and more. There were 39 different fall packs to choose from with activities for a variety of ages.

We started by using some of the pages from the P is for Pumpkin pack and the Funny Pumpkins unit. My son really enjoyed the letter finding and word making activities. We also liked the page with a pumpkin picture that my youngest could finish with dot markers. We have been reviewing upper and lower case letters and the pumpkin pages were a great way to incorporate pumpkins and fall into that review. There was even a fun short video that explains the life cycle of a pumpkin.

In science, my seventh grader and my first grader are studying anatomy. I had been hoping to find some pages that were a little easier for my first grader and was delighted to find some coloring pages that will work great as we go through the curriculum. There were also some great diagrams and pages that will help my seventh grader.

My oldest child is in ninth grade and taking a pretty full course load this year. I had not planned to use this program with him because I did not want to add anything to his load. However, I was surprised to find that there was a guitar tutorial included with the membership. This 62 page document takes you step by step through learning the guitar. He has just started lessons and I shared this with him to help him study and practice.

In addition, there were lots of great resources for organization including a transcript record, course of study records, activities log, desk toppers, calendars, and more. These would be great for homeschool, co-op, or a classroom teacher. There were also glossaries for various subjects, lined papers, templates, and even a college application guide.

Overall, we thought there were lots of great products included with this membership. We will use it as a supplement to our regular curriculum. I could also see it being very beneficial to someone who wanted to create their own curriculum or use student directed learning because you have access to so many different resources on such a variety of topics. If you want to learn more, make sure to check out the My Teaching Library website and click on the graphic below to check out the other reviews.

An End of Summer Reading Update and a New Book Series!!

It has been awhile since I took the time to share what I have been reading, and I am so excited to share all about a new series that I found and some other great books that I have been reading.

If you have followed the blog long, you probably know that I typically read more non-fiction than fiction. However, in the summer I always like to try to get in a little fun fiction. With the world feeling so stressful right now, I found that reading fun fiction was a great way to de-stress and step away from it all without ever having to leave my house.

I started the summer with the Sisterchicks Books by Robin Jones Gunn. I had read several of her young adult series in high school and was excited to realize she had also written books for adults. The Sisterchicks Books were funny stories about sisterchicks aka close friends, that went on an adventure to another country. Each book featured two different friends and a different country. They were lighthearted and fun, but yet also managed to be inspirational and help bring my focus back to God. It was a great combination. In addition, I also read Gardenias for Breakfast by Robin Jones Gunn, which was a book that had been in my too read basket for awhile.

After finishing the Sisterchicks books, I thought I was moving on to another author. However, my daughter really wanted me to go back and read the Christy Miller series. I had read the first part of the series in high school, but since that was a few years ago, I did not remember all the details. I read the first and last one in the Christy Miller series and then read all three of the the Christy Miller: The College Years books. It turned out to be a really fun way to connect with my daughter. I want to do better at making it a habit to read and discuss fun books with her and not just ‘school books’.

After I finished the Sisterchicks books, I asked on my Facebook page and got several series suggestions. I was planning on trying those, but another series ‘fell into my lap’ and I am reading those first. My husband and I were blessed to be able to visit the mountains for a couple of days to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at an adorable Bed and Breakfast while we were there. I had finished reading the fiction book that I took with me, and did not really want to read the non-fiction that I had brought along. I noticed a series of books that were on display in the hallway and decided to give them a try.

They were called the Amish Inn Mysteries. I found them to be the perfect fit for my time reading and relaxing at a bed and breakfast. They featured a lady named Liz who had just bought a bed and breakfast in a small town near an Amish community. The books tell fun stories about the ladies in the small town, and each book contains a mystery that Liz helps to solve. There are hints at romance, but mostly these are fun mysteries. I read the first one at the bed and breakfast and enjoyed it so much that I ordered the first five books in the series. I just finished reading the last of those five and am planning to order more in the series.

In my unintentional them of finding authors I had read in the past, I also read the book Jennifer by Dee Henderson. This is the first book in a series about the O’Malley siblings. I had read the other books in the series years ago, but somehow never read that one. I enjoyed it and plan to see if I can find the rest of the series to re-read.

I read a lot of fiction this summer, but I did take the time to work on a couple of non-fiction books. I am currently reading Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson and The Coddling of the American Mind.

Awaking Wonder is a great book that explores the idea of awaking wonder in our children. It shares the big ideas of how we can teach them and help them to grow. I started reading it in August with the digital version, but was excited to get my hands on a hardback copy a couple weeks ago. I really wanted to be able to highlight and make notes.

The Coddling of the American Mind is a little more political than I normally get in my reading, but so far I think it is well written and speaks to a topic that has been concerning me. I don’t agree with all of the details and examples, but overall in what I have read so far the authors have done a great job making their point. The do not take a left/right side but share their concerns about how we have been shutting down free speech and teaching college students to fear speech that they do not agree with. I want to finish it before I make any final decisions, but I am leaning towards having my children read it prior to going off to college to help them understand.

Finally, I also read Debt Free Degree by Anthony O’Neal. My fourteen-year-old son just finished reading it as well. It is a great book to read with your middle or high schooler and walks them through some steps they can take to be in a position to get a college degree without debt. We have been discussing his ideas together and working through a plan to have my son on that track. My twelve-year-old daughter will be reading it this year as well.

Overall, I read more books this summer than I have read in a long time. It felt really good to be enjoying so many books and even sharing some of them with my teens. With all of the stress in the world, I have a goal this fall of continuing to read some fun fiction as well as the non-fiction that I want to read.

What good books have you read lately? Do you gravitate towards fiction or non-fiction?

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Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

Tired, stressed, overwhelmed? Check out the virtual Real Refreshment Retreat! with Rachael Carman October 9th and 10th. Sign-up today!

IEW is offering some great free resources right now.

If you are looking for ways to keep your young children learning but active, join the FREE Learning Without Worksheets Challenge. Starts on October 5th but sign-ups are open now!

The Best Laid Plans…Our School Year Didn’t Start How I Planned

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a post about our traditions and how we start our school year with pictures and pancakes. We always start on the day after Labor Day and aside from my high school student, we planned to do the same thing this year.

I typed that post the week before it was published. But as life would have it, we actually did a soft start on the same day that post published. We were supposed to be enjoying a couple of weeks at the river with family to finish out our summer.

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However, on the Friday we were supposed to head out we found out that we would not only be unable to go to the river, but we needed to quarantine in our home for two weeks. The kids all felt fine and so we talked about it and decided that they would spend those two weeks doing schoolwork and enjoying some afternoons in our little above ground pool.

That Monday, I was sick and unable to make pancakes and take pictures. However, the children took their contracts and set to work. The big kids even helped my first grader so that he could complete most of his work. They continued with that plan over the two weeks and got a lot of work done even though we had not done our official start. We did not start our morning time and I did not work with my first grader in his phonics program (though he did keep working on Reading Eggs online). However, they were able to get lots of work done and enjoyed getting started with all of their new curriculum.

By going ahead and getting some work done, I felt more able to reschedule our time with family during September and not worry about taking time off so early in the school year.

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Yesterday, we had our official first day, complete with pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, hot apple cider, and pictures! It was actually a great start because they had already done some work in August, so they were able to dive right into the day and get going.

This experience reminded me that one of the many benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility. Have you had any experiences with homeschooling that made you thankful for the flexibility? Is it hard for you to switch up your plans when life throws you a curve ball? I struggle with it sometimes, but find that when we can be flexible it makes things much easier to handle.

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Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

IEW is offering some great free resources right now.

If you are looking for ways to keep your young children learning but active, join the FREE Learning Without Worksheets Challenge. Starts on October 5th but sign-ups are open now!

Grandparents and Gratitude

This week the review crew is sharing about grandparents and gratitude in honor of Grandparents Day, which was Sunday the 13th. I am so thankful that my children have two sets of grandparents in their lives, and both support our homeschooling goals. I know that isn’t always the case.

How My Children’s Grandparents Bless our Homeschool

In our homeschool, one of the ways the grandmothers bless us is by coming up about a day a week and playing with the little children so that I can focus my attention on the older children. This time is a huge blessing.

Another way that our grandparents are a blessing is by sharing their talents and gifts and teaching various life skills. For example, my dad is an avid fisherman, and all of my children have learned to fish from him. My mother-in-law loves to play board games and has spent many afternoons playing monopoly or cards with the children.

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Not only are we grateful for their involvement in our homeschool, but also just for the love that they pour out on our children and how they support each of them. It makes me so happy knowing that our children are so well loved.

How Grandparents Can Get Involved

If the grandparents in your children’s lives do not live close, are not physically able to be this involved, or maybe still have full-time employment, there are many other ways they can be involved. I know grandparents who read children’s books to their grandchildren via zoom or voice chat. Others that might spend a weekend day working in the garden together, doing puzzles, or whatever other hobby is of interest.

If the grandparents are in a nursing home or assisted living, the children could bless them with visits and get the blessing of smiles and stories in return. Writing letters back and forth to grandparents that live far away can be a great way to support the relationship and practice those writing skills!

Grandparents Are Not Always Biological Family

If, for whatever reason, your children do not have grandparents in their lives, do not be afraid to reach out to folks in your church or neighborhood that can fill that void. It can be a blessing for everyone involved.

Are grandparents involved in your schooling? What are you grateful for today?

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Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

IEW is offering some great free resources right now.

Evan-Moor History Pockets Ancient Egypt

Ancient history can feel overwhelming sometimes, but we think it is a lot of fun! We are just starting my daughter’s second round of Ancient history, and my first-grade son is joining her for the first time through history.

In addition to our regular history curriculum, we have had the opportunity to review Evan-Moor History Pockets Ancient Egypt Evan-Moor History Pockets Ancient Egypt, which aims to make that sense of overwhelm associated with the study of ancient history, well history!

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What Are History Pockets?

Evan-Moor History Pockets Ancient Egypt is designed for grades 4-6, but I found it worked out well as an extra activity for my children to do together. My daughter is in 7th grade, and my son is in first, so my daughter was able to lead the project and let the first grader help and learn as they worked through it.

This book contained the materials needed to make seven different history pockets related to different parts of Ancient Egyptian history. They included an introduction to Ancient Egypt, Daily Life, Government and Leaders, Religion, Architecture, Language, and Arts and Recreation.

I loved that the pockets could be used all together for a full study of Egypt, or they could stand alone if you wanted to focus on a particular area of interest.

Benefits of History Pockets

The materials are laid out in such a way as to make it very easy for a student to understand what to do and to work independently, with a group of peers, or in our case, with a sibling team. While my first grader would not have been able to do it independently because it is above grade level for him, my daughter could lead him, and they could complete the activities without any additional assistance from me.

Another huge benefit for us was that each pocket contains the reading material needed to complete the activities. You don’t have to find extra books or resources for learning about the subject before you can complete the work.

Each pocket contains a variety of activities. There are short reading passages, pictures to color, cutting and pasting activities, timelines, pop-up crafts, and more included throughout the book. This was really helpful for keeping things fun and interesting while still providing a great deal of information. One of my daughter’s favorites was the male and female cut-outs that they were able to dress in special occasion Egyptian clothes, much like a ‘paper dolls’ book.

Another benefit of these pockets is how versatile they are in terms of time. If you wanted to spend a few hours doing history one day, you could complete an entire pocket. Or you can have a student complete one daily activity in 20-30 minutes. You could work your way straight through the book, completing each of the 7 pockets, or just pick and choose the activities you wanted to complete.

The books are available as print books that can be copied for students or as an e-book. Both are great options, but we loved the e-book because I could just print what I needed as I needed it. It is set up with black and white pages, which makes it nice for those who do not have color printers. The pictures are designed so that the students can color them. Since we are homeschoolers and do not have regular access to a copier, this was the easiest option for our family. This can be used individually or as a family.

What Did We Think About the History Pockets?

Overall, we really enjoyed Evan-Moor History Pockets Ancient Egypt. We used it to supplement our regular history program, but you could use this series as a stand-alone history program (though I would probably supplement it with some extra library books on the topics to go a bit deeper). In addition to the Ancient Egypt books, Evan-Moor has a variety of history pockets for grades 1-3 and 4-6. These cover a variety of history topics from ancient history through American history. You can purchase any of these books from Evan-Moor or Amazon.

Disclaimer:
I received a FREE copy of this product 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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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Apples Unit Study Resources

Gala, Pink Lady, Fuji, Golden Delicious, and so many more. There are hundreds of varieties of apples, and so much to learn from studying them. As we approach fall, apples are a great snack and a great unit theme. This week the Review Crew is writing various posts related to apples. I want to share some fun resources you can use to learn more about apples and enjoy fun family times.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links; see below for more information. *

While most people think of apples being something to study with preschool or early elementary students, I think there are ideas that can be used with all ages. I will spend more time on apples with my 6 and 2-year-olds but still include the 12 and 14-year-olds in field trips and cooking activities.

Books About Apples

There are so many books to read about apples. Some are non-fiction and teach about apples. Others are fiction books that feature apples with-in the story. I have included some of our favorites and the recommendations that some of my readers shared.

Cooking with Apples

In addition to reading books about apples, I highly recommend involving all of your senses and cook something with apples. It can be as simple as slicing apples and dipping them in peanut butter, or for the more culinarily advanced homemade caramel sauce, or you can work with your children to bake an apple pie. This is a great chance to work on not culinary skills, but measuring, tasting, nutrition, and more.

Field Trips with Apples

If you have the opportunity, a field trip to an apple orchard is lots of fun. We have been to several and enjoy the opportunity to pick our own apples. Many orchards also have various tasty goodies made from apples and some have other entertainment such as hay rides, music, playgrounds, etc. This can be lots of fun for the whole family.

More Apple Fun

There are also many great art projects, STEM activities, and other fun activities for apples. I have includes a list below with activities for a variety of ages. I know we personally plan to use the apple chalk pastel lesson and the Lego project!

I hope some of these resources are helpful if you choose to study apples as we head into the fall season. I would love to have you share with us some of your favorite apple resources and recipes.

Apples Unit Study Resources

Apple Books

Diary of a Worm Teacher’s Pet (My son picked this one out at the library because it had an apple on the cover.)

Ten Apples Up on Top

Apples, Apples, Apples

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

Apple Recipes

Caramel Apples or if you want super simple you can buy these caramel wraps for your apples instead of making caramel.

Apple Activities

Free Apple Chalk Pastel Lesson

Painting with Apples

40 Apple Activities for Kids

Apple Fractions

Lego Apples

Apple Field Trips

Apple Picking

Farmers Market

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FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

Hymn Study: Amazing Grace

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…..” Those words come so easily to mind anytime I hear the music or even sometimes just as I sit and think about how thankful I am for that sweet amazing grace in my own life. Written by John Newton in 1779, Amazing Grace is one of the most popular hymns in America.

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1 Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

John Newton had a life that almost seems as if it was a work of fiction. He was pressed into the British Navy, sold to a slave ship, spent some time as a slave on a small island, and spent years working in the slave industry. He also survived a major storm on a ship and that is the night he called his turning point. The night he turned back to God. He had learned of God from his mother but he had not followed God since his mother died when he was a young child.

The story of his transformation from slave trader and party boy to preacher and hymn writer is fascinating and a beautiful testimony to God’s ‘Amazing Grace’. To me his life story helps to share how the words of the hymn are so much more than just words. God’s grace is available for each of us, not matter what we have done in the past.

My daughter learned to play Amazing Grace on her violin. Learning to play the hymn on whatever instrument your child plays can be a great way to really internalize the words and music. If your child does not already play an instrument, a simple and inexpensive way to start is a recorder.

As we learn about this song, I plan to spend some time discussing with my children about how we have seen God’s grace work and move in our lives and the lives of those around us. In a time when things are stressful and full of strife in the world, I think it is beneficial to remind ourselves of God’s goodness and provision in our lives.

In addition to our regular hymn study activities, I found this audio drama about the life of John Newton from Focus on the Family. We love their audio dramas and this one is included with Amazon Music (or available to purchase).

If you would like to add some art to your study this month, Nana is planning a wonderful art lesson to accompany this hymn. It will be available in the hymn study course with-in the You Are An Artist Clubhouse Membership. We always enjoy being able to add a bit of art to our study.