"Oh, no! It's that time of year again already?" my husband grimaced. 

"Don't worry. It's only one week." I smiled brightly. 

"It feels like a lot longer," he sighed. 

"Let's have pizza tonight," one of my children interjected. "I love this week. We get to eat out!" 

​For years I have taken one week each summer and planned out the entire school year. 

Setting aside this week enables me to stay on target for the whole year. It is worth the time and mess to tackle the year all at once. 

Some folks prefer to plan a week at a time and that's fine. For those who are interested, read on and learn my strategy for lesson planning the entire year in one week. 

​Art Masterpieces to Color: 60 Great Paintings from Botticelli to Picasso from Dover Press is a great coloring book to invest in.

Because the coloring book comes with small postcard size reproductions in the back of the book, you can turn this into an art appreciate class. Have your children or teens color these pages of famous paintings exactly like the original artist did. Believe me, they will be scrutinizing these paintings as they color. 

Some of the famous works of art in this coloring book are The Peaceable Kingdom (Edward Hicks), Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci), Girl with a Pearl Earring (Jan Vermeer), and Luncheon of the Boating Party (Pierre-Auguste Renoir). There is a wide variety of artwork from different periods and styles. This is a wonderful and vaied taste of art appreciation.​

​I have told other homeschooling moms that there’s just no fun way to do spelling. I have used workbooks for years, while I encourage moms to also consider making spelling lists from unit studies or books their children are reading too. There is just no way to make spelling hands-on, or so I thought. I stand corrected.

All About Spelling comes with a workbook—of course! But there is more in the package! An Audio CD-ROM with a clear pronunciation of each phonetic sound is included. You press the alphabet letter, consonant team, vowel team, or phonogram and hear the sound! This is fun for those who like to touch and press (every kid under the age of ten!). There are also letter tiles to touch and handle. This is another plus of the program—it is very hands-on! There are also flashcards, letter tile magnets, and a magnetic tile board. You hear the sound, see the sound, and touch! This is truly a multi-sensory way to learn spelling!

My favorite part of the package was the games! Bingo with phonograms and several other games that you make by pasting the game to simple file folders. There were five cheery, colorful games: A Day on the Farm; Bunny Garden; Dog Walk; Horse and Pony Show; and Wild, Wild West. The games will be a hit with children!

​Do you enjoy the drama and personalities of history more than dates and facts? If so, these books are for you! Though written for grades fourth to eighth graders, your whole family will enjoy reading or listening to this book read aloud. We got together with another family and everyone from grade two to senior in high school listened each week as mom read the stories (lessons) aloud. Filled with information, little known, but thrilling facts and stories are included.
         
The author, Linda Lacour Hobar, takes us on a trip back in time to meet those who have made history and to experience them ourselves. What an adventure!
 
Laid out in chronological order, beginning with Creation, each week has three lessons accompanied by writing, craft and cooking projects. There are test and quizzes too. We normally ignore tests, but we enjoyed these tests too. 
         
Can you guess that these are my very favorite history textbooks? You learn what was going on in the world—at the same time. While one nation is in its height, another is beginning. It even covers China, India, and Africa!       

​

​Times Tales: Times Tables Made Easy is a creative, innovative Mnemonic-based program that makes it fun and easy to memorize the upper multiplication facts.
 
With the same style and format, difficult to memorize times tables can be mastered easily by many children.  
 
Symbols are used for each number. 
 
See the picture of the page below. Can you see the numbers in each illustration?
 
What follows the numbers symbols page in the book is a collection of quick one page stories involving butterflies, chairs, Mrs. Week, Mrs. Snowman, the Treehouse, and the First Grade Class.  

“Miss Meredith, can I borrow the “Laundry book?” Josh asked after looking through the Clean N’ Flip Charts. “I really want to learn to do laundry.”
           
“I can teach you to do laundry,” his mother interrupted, overhearing our conversation.
           
“That’s okay, Mom.  I want to learn from this book,” he replied. “I am so excited to learn laundry. I’ve always wanted to learn to do laundry.”
           
“Since when?” his mother queried, perplexed.
           
“Since I saw this book!” Josh admitted with a grin.
 
There are three adorable flip books in the series: Clean N’ Flip Bedroom Cleaning for Kids, Zone Cleaning for Kids, and Clean N’ Flip Laundry for Kids.
 
The books are sturdy and shiny, pleasing both mom and children. 
 
Simple to read, easy to understand, and engaging for children with its conversational style, cute illustrations, and bright colors, this book makes kids want to learn to clean. Seriously!
 
These books are worth their weight in GOLD!

Happy Cleaning!
Meredith Curtis

​"Don’t open it. I want to take a picture tomorrow,” I reminded my children who could not keep away from the pretty purple package containing the nativity set we had just received.

“It’s so cute,” my teenage daughter cooed. “Let’s open it now!”

There is not one child under the age of ten in my house, so I was confused as to how to review this little play set. I need not have been.

My five children adored it! After taking several pictures, my youngest son tore into the box and carefully set it up. If only we had had a nativity set like this when the children were younger.
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What a great idea! 

To read Understanding the Times is to take on a mammoth project. The book is over 500 pages long and not light reading. 
 
This book is "must read before you graduate" book and here's why: I want my children to understanding where each of their professors are coming from when they go to college. 
 
The worldview on the typical American college campus (even many Christian campuses) is far different from what the Word of God teaches. 
 
I want my children to be prepared to not only recognize different worldviews, but to defend their faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible. 
 
Here's where Understanding the Times comes in.