| Meredith Ludwig Curtis |
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 "Are you serious? You want me to color a coloring book for science class? I'm in high school, Mom." "I know sweetie, but this coloring book will be such a blessing!" Aren't teens to old to color? The Human Anatomy Coloring Book by Margaret Mott is an amazing asset to any course on human anatomy, whether its health or human physiology. There is nothing that makes memorization of body parts easier than to color them.
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 "The kitchen is a living laboratory, demanding curiosity. Cups of water and corn syrup can be measured, heated, and transformed into one pound of hard candy. The circular circumference of a pizza can be measured, baked, and cut into fractional parts. Cylinders and rectangular prisms sit comfortably on the pantry shelf waiting to be sorted, counted, and stacked in geometric sculpture. Children love to experience and experiment with these math wonders, yet adults often scoot children from the kitchen because it is easier to plan, process, and prepare without the help of little hands. However, when a child's desire to help is tapped, math skills and life skills can be taught and will be remembered because of the natural inquisitiveness which saturates the kitchen. Children love the kitchen, a perfect place to be immersed in math." --Cheryl Bastian, author and homeschooling mom of six  Flip 3 Pancakes with 1 Spatula by Cheryl Bastian is book filled with hands-on learning ideas for teaching math without a textbook. It's a handbook to teach to the heart of your child, who most likely LOVES your kitchen and is constantly asking if he can "help." Cooking is fun. Math can be learned by cooking with mom in the kitchen. Ergo, learning math can be fun. That sounds logical to me!
You will love this book! Set up like a cookbook, it is divided into the following categories: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks & Desserts, and Holidays & Celebrations. Each page contains a complete math lesson set up unit study style with a yummy recipe. You start out by reading one or two picture books. After gathering the needed materials listed on the page, the math lesson takes place while you are cooking. There are also Add Ons. The Ad Ons include additional math lessons, social studies activities, more books to read, science projects, writing or language assignments, and art projects. All are easy and fun!  Plimoth Plantation by William Bradford is a history of the local church in Scrooby that fled to Holland and later crossed the Atlantic Ocean to settle at Plymouth Plantation. William Bradford served for many years as governor of the first settlement in New England. Plimoth Plantation is a detailed history of Plymouth Colony from 1621 to 1646. You will learn about key people in the colony too. William is considered the Father of American History. Similar to other books you will read from the colonial period, William compares the events that occurred in Plymouth with events from the Bible. You will learn about the Mayflower Compact, early colony laws, and treaties with the Indians. I find it interesting that Mr. Bradford very carefully shows you details of the Lord’s blessing and judgment. I learned things in this book that I had never heard before in history class.  "Are you going to turn out the light, Honey?" my husband barely murmured, while covering his head with a pillow. "Just one more paragraph," I replied, not taking my eyes off the page I was reading. "Honey, this is the third night in a row. Are you ever going to sleep again?" I did not reply because I was too busy reading book 7 of the Zion Chronicles. I had given up cooking dinner, washing the dishes, and checking my Facebook. I rationalized it by telling myself that I was just giving my daughters the opportunity to learn homemaking skills. Really, all I wanted to do was read these books. 
Sheri Graham is a busy homeschooling mom with a houseful of children. She also runs her own business and writes books. Somewhere in all that hard work, she manages to post a blog each day. I am encouraged and challenged by Sheri and her ministry. To do all that she does, and to do it all so well, Sheri must be a very organized lady! So, when she sent me her Intentional Planner to review, I was eager to see it. I like to learn from other homeschooling moms who do all things well.  The Intentional Planner is an E-book that you can download the minute you purchase it on Graham Family Ministries online store. You can make as make copies as you need and put together as many planners as you need for your family. Before I tell you any more about it, though, I have to give you some really good news! The Intentional Planner only costs $5.00. Yes, that's right, only $5.00 for 247 pages of wisdom from Graham Family Ministries. I could not believe that you could spend so little and get so much!
With a desire to combine her planner, calendar, journal, and home management binder into one notebook, Sheri created the Intentional Planner. It is everything you need to manage your home and home school in one neat package. There are fields on the pages available to customize your planner too. This planner is laid out very simply.
The daily planner pages are the "heartbeat" of The Intentional Planner. The Weekly Evaluation and Planning Page touches my heart every time I read it. There are spiritual examination questions. One question is "Where am I lacking in the fruits of the Spirit?" Ouch! I forget to ask myself questions like that. The page goes on to ask you to come up with practical ways to:
The daily planning sheets that follow have 4 sections: Daily Schedule, Appointments, To Do Items, and Notes. Next, comes the monthly calendar pages, monthly plans pages, dates to remember pages, birthday/anniversary chart, to do lists, Bible reading schedule, memory work prayer list, personal reading list, and personal reading journal. The goals section follows with room for family/ministry goals, health goals, handcraft goals, personal goals, and business goals. A daily journal section is a nice touch in this planner. I like to carry around little notebooks to journal in, so I liked the idea of this section. The miscellaneous section has lots of neat, rather random pages.
 "Look, Mom, the alligator is eating the cow!" my son informed me with glee.
"Can I see that?" his friend, Josh, put down the elephant he was holding to examine the cow-eating alligator. How realistic the Schleich animal action figures are! My imagination traveled to all sorts of places with one glance at the animals the boys were examining: African Safaris, Wisconsin dairy farms, Everglades National Park, and a Kentucky horse farm. What hours of fun the boys had examining and playing with these animal action figures.  "Is this an exercise video? Is this a math video?" I wondered aloud when Exploramania Gymathtics arrived in the mail to be reviewed.
The answer to my question is YES! It is an exercise video and it is a math video. What a fun, colorful, exciting video to watch! Our hostess, exercise leader, and math teacher is energetic and upbeat. She reminds me of my spinning teacher at the Y. Her name is Carrie and she is the creator of Exploramania. The exercise video is a high-energy aerobic workout with a twist. The twist is that you are always doing math while you move and sweat. "Isn't exercise fun?" perky Carrie asks throughout the 30 minute workout. "Yes, Carrie," I have to agree. "This is fun!"  "Read this one, please," Katie Beth's chubby hands held the book up to me. I adjusted Julianna who had finished nursing and was asleep on my lap. I opened the lovely Christmas picture book and began to read aloud. Katie Beth and I smiled at each other and the baby slept peacefully. Fast forward 20 years. My baby is a grown up lady. Katie Beth and my third baby, Jenny Rose, are cuddled up on the couch reading Anne of Green Gables aloud. They have both read the book several times, but there is something wonderful about reading a good book together aloud. This summer I went to visit my aunt with two of my daughters. The four of us enjoyed an Agatha Christie short story together. We took turns reading aloud. My aunt wrote me a note the next week about how much she had enjoyed that sweet time reading aloud together. What is it about reading aloud that is so wonderful? Is it the story? Is it the sound of someone you love reading aloud? Or is it the sense of togetherness? There are several Christmas picture books out there. Which are the best for reading aloud?  Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devlin is a Christmas story set in Cranberry Port, New England where the winter is filled with snow, ice skating, and treats made with cranberries (like the cranberry cookie recipe on the back cover of the book!).
Meet Grandma and Maggie who help eccentric Mr. Whiskers prepare for a visit from his sister and fight to keep his property. A sweet Christmas tale and a great recipe! My children loved this book and there are great examples of kindness and friendship inside. Quaint pictures add to the delight of the book. I love the drawings of Mr. Whiskers!  "How do you like the game?" I asked my four volunteers: Maria, Aisha, Christina, and Saxon. "Saxon is frustrated because he can't get any of his dogs out," Maria answered first. "Well...." Christina paused. (She is twelve and the game was created for much younger children.) "I love it!" twenty-two year old Aisha gushed. She is very young at heart. "It's a lot like Parcheesi," Maria added, "You move around the board and if you land on someone else's spot you send them back, no wait, that's the other game. In Tornado, you just share a spot. I glanced at the small plastic game board. It was bright, cheerful, and colorful. The little doggie pieces were cute as could be. Thirty minutes later, Saxon, who had by then gotten out onto the board, was enjoying the game immensely. Saxon is nine years old!  Hank the Cow Dog is a lovable mutt that solves all kinds of mysteries with his friend and fellow Cow Dog, Drover. The game, the children were playing was based on Hank and his life. We received a book, Hank the Cow Dog: The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse by John Erickson, the Tornado game, CD, and audio tape to review.
My son, Jimmy and I both read the book, agreeing that Hank the Cow Dog was hilarious. The book was a little young for Jimmy, age eleven, but we thought his friend, Saxon, age nine, would enjoy it. Neither of us could help laughing aloud at Hank's escapades on the ranch where he lives with his assistant, Drover, Sally May, Loper, Little Alfred, and his nemesis, Pete, the cat. Hank is always doing something he shouldn't do, whether it's snacking on bacon grease, licking Sally Mae's nose, or stealing the family's pumpkin pie. Hank is incredibly funny as he narrates the book, telling the whole story from his perspective. I loved to see the story unfold through his eyes. For the most part, Hank is a wholesome character, but in the beginning of the book, he does encourage his readers to lie about wetting the bed. It's all very tongue-in-cheek and silly, but still...However, though Hank gets into trouble because of the choices he makes, in his world, good is good and bad is bad. Bad deeds are punished and good deeds are rewarded. And though the stories are silly, I felt like I was visiting a ranch in Texas. I liked the book!  Ballet. Classical music. Two loves of my life! How thankful I was when the girls were little and donned their ballet shoes to took lessons. Katie Beth continues to choreograph worship dances for church celebrations that are beautiful. The girls have also enjoyed attending operas and ballets. My son, however, is less interested in classical music and ballet lessons don't seem to be the way to introduce him to classical music. The Tortoise and the Hare arrived in a small white package to be review and I was blessed. I couldn't wait to investigate the classical music story CD from Maestro Classics.  "You got a package of stuff to review," my son, Jimmy, informed me. "Do you need us to open it for you.
"Would you, boys? That would be great!" I gave my son and his best friend the nod and within minutes, they had kitchen knives in their hands and were hacking away at the boxes. "Guess what?" Josh asked with excitement in his voice. You tell me!" I laughed at the boys' happy faces. "It's from that company that sent the Nativity scene," they both said together. "Oh, let me see." Now, I was excited too and soon all my daughters were gushing over One2Believe's latest shipment, an adorable replica/toy, Noah's Ark. This s a great Christmas present idea.  The Renaissance was a rebirth of Classical Greek and Roman art, literature, and culture that took place mostly in Southern Europe. The Reformation was a spiritual rebirth that took place in hearts as they rediscovered the Truth found in Scripture: Salvation through Faith alone. The Reformation took place mostly in Northern Europe. As these earth-shaking movements were happening across Europe, men were bravely sailing to the New World. What an exciting time to study! How thrilling to see God moving through time and history to glorify Jesus and spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth!  "Look at this baby book!" I grabbed Laura's arm and pulled her over to the table with the baby book on display. Laura, who was gazing at science curriculum, reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged away. We were at the FPEA Homeschool Convention in May, 2008 at the vendors' hall. "Look! It's a baby book for Jesus! Is that not the cutest thing in the whole world?" I cooed, picking it up and flipping through the pages. "Look, it says "Before Jesus was born, he was creating the world!" and this page says, "Here are the gifts baby received..." And, here is a page about His parents, God and Mary." By now, Laura was interested. We scanned through the book several times, and, of course, I had to buy the unit study.  Celebrate the Savior by Charlene Notgrass is a Bible Study with history and crafts. There are craft projects and creative writing assignments. The children make two booklets: a Baby Book for Jesus and a Christmas Traditions around the World booklet. With fifteen lessons on the birth and life of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, this book is a great way to teach your children about Christmas!
Celebrate the Savior is a unit study that begins with a closer look at the birth of Christ Jesus our Savior revealed in Scripture and progresses into a look at the history of Christmas celebrating and traditions. Bible, history, geography, writing, music, and art are covered in this unit.  "We are just starting out," the young woman informed me with shining eyes. I thought that she was a high school homeschooler with her fresh smile and "girl-next-door" looks. I smiled to myself remembering those days. Was I ever a young mom who didn't need to reach for her reading glasses to check a writing paper or look at the numbers to explain a math problem? How wonderful those early years were when we enjoyed making volcanoes of papermache and going to the zoo for a field trip. "I need all the wisdom I can get," my new young friend interrupted my thoughts. "Well, have I got a book for you!" Though I have read many books on homeschooling over the past twenty years, this was my first time reading The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell (sent to me by Apologia Press to review).  The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell is an honest look at homeschooling from a mom whose run the race with joy and success! You will like Debra. She is honest and insightful. She doesn't sugarcoat homeschooling. Debra and her husband, Kermit, have four children, all homeschool grads. Saved in college, Debra never envisioned herself homeschooling, but she saw good fruit in the lives of homeschooled children in her church. This led her to pursue homeschooling for her own family.
Debra homeschooled her children and built friendships with other homeschooling families. She mentions the support group, coop, and homeschooling friends in her book over and over. As she mentions her family, you can tell that she values relationships. Her lives, and the lives of her children, have been changed in these relationships. Reading this book was not only a time of equipping for me, it was like having tea with a kindred spirit who loves homeschooling too! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, "meeting" Debra, and hope that you will consider reading it too. Here are some topics that Debra covers in her guide to homeschooling. She covers these topics realistically, practically, and honestly.
There is a constant reminder to make learning relevant to real life. Learn computer skills with blogging. Start a family business to learn about economics and business. Learn about government and politics by participating in an election campaign. She also has many suggestions to avoid burnout such as the following:
Raising the Reluctant Learner  Another art curriculum to review! ARTistic Pursuits Junior High Book Two Color and Composition arrived in my mailbox with its companion, ARTistic Pursuits Junior High Book One The Elements of Art and Composition. Teaching art intimidates me, so it was with a little anxiety that I perused these two non-consumable art curriculum books. I understand the principles of art and design and can explain the elements of art. It's when we actually use media that I get a little nervous. My renditions never look like the pictures in the book. What a pleasant surprise awaited me!  In the last election, Sarah Palin captured my heart and imagination with her spunky attitude, devotion to her family, and good common sense. I was so excited to see a woman of God who was not ashamed to talk about her faith in Jesus! Who was this woman from Alaska that I'd never heard of before? A governor? I never think much about Alaska, though my parents dreamed of taking an Alaskan cruise together. "Brrr...too cold," was my thought when they asked if I wanted to join them. But, as I have been learning more about this beautiful wilderness state of ours with its breathtaking landscape, I'm having second thoughts about taking an Alaskan cruise. At the very least, I am interested in learning about this wild state that produces hearty, spunky souls who value family and hard work.  With this in mind, I was eager to take a look at an E-book, Aunt Sarah's Alaskan Cookbook by Cheryl Moeller. With lovely illustrations by Susan R. Smith and breath-taking photographs by Clifford McGhyghy, this cookbook is a homeschool treasure. Use it as a foundation for a unit study on Alaska or just enjoy the yummy recipes.
Cookbook Chapters More than a collection of recipes, Aunt Sarah's Alaskan Cookbook gives you a look at Alaska's history and beauty throughout its 60 pages. Divided into seven sections (six chapters and an appendix), each section contains information about Alaska that can be used as a springboard for a unit study or as a supplement to your family's Alaska unit study. Here are the sections with some recipe examples from each section.
 Keyboarding for the Christian School by Leanne Beitel is a back-to-basics curriculum. Nothing fancy. No bells and whistles. I like it! This 107 page E-book contains 42 lessons taking you from the basics to formatting, footnotes, and addressing envelopes. The first 20 lessons help the student learn the location of the letters. Then the students become proficient at typing numbers. Here is a list of all the lessons.
When directions are given, many pictures are used to make the child's application of lesson clear. They show pictures of windows, computer screens, software, and more.
Is there anything more fun than celebrating holidays? Christmas stockings, Easter baskets, and Valentine hearts filled with chocolate all bring a smile to my face and my heart. Life is good when there's a holiday to celebrate. God, of course, is the inventor of holidays, or holy days. What holidays did God establish for the nation of Israel? I can't think of a more enjoyable Bible study to dig into.  Grapevine Studies' Biblical Feasts and Holy Days by Diana Wiebe is a thirteen week study for your home school Bible class. Written for teens, this study would be enjoyed by younger and older folks too. We have college students, high school students, and middle school students in our home. All liked this Grapevine study on the Biblical holidays. We received a teachers manual and student worktexts to review.
Before I tell you about this delightful Bible study curriculum, let me tell you about Grapevine Studies. I love their mission. In fact, let me just quote it from the teacher's edition. "Our mission at Grapevine Studies is to provide believers with a method and curricula to study the Bible, using a timeline, stick figures, words, symbols, and colors to teach chronological lessons." What a great idea! Combining the intellectual (timelines, chronological studies) with the more emotional (stick figures, symbols). The result is that both the left and right sides of the brain are engaged, but more importantly, I think, is that both the heart and mind are engaged in these studies. Each of their Bible studies start with a timeline as the framework for the entire study. Bible passages, characters, and events are understood within the big picture. Being a "big picture person" myself, I immediately latched on to this teaching method! Each day, your student reads a passage and then does some "stick figuring." Stick figuring is a method of note taking using stick figures, colors, charts, words, and symbols. It is definitely more fun than normal note taking. The lesson ends with a memory verse. The teacher's edition of Biblical Feast and Holy Days was very helpful for me to teach this material. I did need to use a dry erase board, dry erase markers in several different colors, a Bible concordance, and a Bible dictionary. I am already familiar with using these Bible reference tools, but if you are not, they are relatively simple to pick up and use. All the children needed was their workbook, Bibles, and colored pencils.  The year we studied American History this year, five families united to coop every Tuesday in my living room, kitchen, backyard, and nearby park. We listened to numerous books read aloud, shot arrows from bows, worked on timelines, recited famous speeches, and created many hands-on projects. The fascinating thing to me about American History is the deep devotion to God that once lived in the hearts of men and women in this nation. Even those who rejected the Gospel admitted that God had His hand in the formation of this great nation.
Today, my heart aches for a nation that has turned away from the Lord and looks to the government to solve its problems, seemingly unaware that we are experiencing judgment as a result of our rejection of the God of the Bible and His moral laws. I am saddened to see how far we have strayed, yet hope cannot keep from rising inside me. God can still bring revival, changing the hearts of men and women once again, so that they seek His face. This hope is tempered by the realization that it not only takes loving God, but knowing and obeying HIs Word to make a nation great. We must seek His Wisdom, found in Scripture on how to govern a nation, enact moral laws, and transform our evil culture. God speaks about history, law, politics, leadership, culture, and justice in His Word. 
"I'm fasting all healthy food," I declared to my family as I popped a bad cholesterol-building cookie in my mouth. "Can someone pick me up some hot chocolate?" I know, I know, at my age, 49, healthy food choices are important. Oh, how I wish I had been a healthier eater when I was younger. I knew something about nutrition, but obviously not enough because my heart leans to white chocolate Resee Cups, M & Ms, Moose Tracks Ice Cream, and Whoppers. Maybe this review isn't about sharing information with you, but learning and cleaning up my own nutritional life.  Nutrition 101: Choose Life A Family Nutrition and Health Program by Debra Raybern, Sera Johnson, Laura Hopkins, and Karen Hopkins is a 448 page E-book published by Growing Healthy Homes. This book is based on the premise that the "cures" to most of the dreaded diseases (cancer, heart disease, and diabetes) is changing the way we eat. Surely, eating healthy will go a long way in preventing these diseases.
This book is meant to be worked through together as a family. Neat! The idea of the book is to learn together and CHANGE together! The goal is to become healthy eaters in 448 pages. The authors recommend that the family using this curriculum together...
The book is divided into 6 units, each unit containing 4 chapters. Every chapter has discussion questions, activities, additional resources, and recipes. One of my favorite things is all the "Fun Facts" scattered throughout each chapter. Here are the units:
The best thing about Nutrition 101: Choose Life! is that it is Christ-centered. Scripture is woven into every chapter with application to the subject at hand. I love that! You may want to read Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey.  "Bring back the good ole days," I find myself thinking sometimes as I pick up new-fangled, fancy curriculum that seems to have more bells and whistles than meat.
But, honestly I had very little idea of where to find that curricula. In fact, I had little idea what these textbooks were actually like. That's all changed now because I got to review the Eclectic Education Series. The Eclectic Education Series (EES) is a set of textbooks that were used in the latter part of the nineteenth century (1800's). Over 10,000 independent school boards across the nation chose to use these textbooks. Some of these textbooks will sound familiar to you, even after they have been out of use for 100 years: Ray's Arithmetic and McGuffey's Readers. All of these textbooks emphasize traditional values, patriotism, and the Bible.  "Help! My kids are terrible writers. Do you know of a writing curriculum that would help?" I have been asked this question many times because I happen to love to write, as do several, but not all, of my children. There are plenty of grammar, spelling, and phonics workbooks, but you can't really teach good writing skills with a workbook. Contrary to popular belief, good writer are not born good writers, they are taught to write well. Often, the only barrier to teaching your child to write well is the confidence factor. This book may help you to feel more confident as you instruct your children in the art of writing.  The first time I used Building Thinking Skills was back in 1998.
When Julianna finished the book (six months sooner than our lesson plans called for!), she asked for the next one. She loved figuring out the logic problems. It was more like a game to her than a school workbook. I have been a fan of this series for years! I was thrilled to get Building Thinking Skills Level 2 by Sandra Parks and Howard Black to review! Now, This workbook covers logical thinking, similarities & differences, sequences, classifications, analogies, antonyms & synonyms, spatial awareness, vocabulary development, following and writing directions, descriptive writing, geometry concepts, map reading, and graphic organization. It is a massive book with 367 pages of thinking skills workbook pages plus an answer key at the back. You can buy it on their website, Critical Thinking.  Christ-centered with an emphasis on the wonder of God's Creation, Apologia textbooks are always a favorite of mine! I enjoy Apologia textbooks because they are easy to understand, full of beautiful pictures, and have hands-on activities that require things I can find around my house. But my very favorite thing about ALL Apologia textbooks is that they honor God as the Creator and Sustainer of Life! Apologia seeks to promote Creationism by filling the readers' hearts with wonder as the marvels of the Creation are explained!
I am reviewing three Apologia science textbooks: Exploring Creation with Zoology: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day for elementary students, Exploring Creation with General Science for middle school students, and Exploring Creation with Biology for high school students. One of my favorite parts of Apologia's textbooks is a page right near the beginning titled, "Need Help?" The entire page is devoted to getting help through the mail, email, on the web, by fax, and by phone. It gives you the idea that they care about helping homeschooling families! Apologia is supportive and available. One more thing to love about Apologia!  "I'd love to homeschool, but I'm scared to teach my kids math," is a cry of despair I have heard through the years.
Why is math so intimidating for homeschooling moms? I really don't have the answer to that question, but I just might be able to help homeschooling moms whose nemesis is math. Yes, you can have your child dual-enroll at a nearby community college, but that probably won't work for the elementary years! There is a solution for those who would rather have someone else teach their children math, but don't want to take them to one more outside activity! If we need help, we really need daily help because math is a subject that our children should do every day. I received two DVDs, The Algebra 2 Tutor (6 hours of instruction) and The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor (8 hours of instruction) to review and was very impressed with the teacher and his style of teaching. Jason is a very calm and easy-to-understand teacher. We often only see his back because he is working problems out on the board. In fact, that's what I loved about the DVD--it is full of practical help! All of the teaching is done through example problems. That's how I like to learn math! |
AuthorMeredith Curtis, homeschooling mom & worship leader, is married to her college sweetheart. She is blessed with 5 amazing children, 3 adorable grandchildren, and an awesome church family! 
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