Historical Fiction Review: Sarah's Wish Delivers!

The best part of homeschooling, personally, has always been reading good books with my kids. They love it too! There’s something about a great story that is the highlight of our day together and also can be the downfall too…at times I just can’t stop reading and other school subjects may suffer just a bit because of it!

So, the chance to read a great story, as part of reviewing for the TOS Crew, was an eager task for us all. Sarah’s Wish, by Jim Baumgardner, is one of those wonderful stories that tend to edge out other schoolwork; it pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading to see what happens next! Sarah’s Wish is the first of three books chronicling Sarah’s life in the dangerous times of North verses South and the Underground Railroad.

Set in the mid 1800’s when the Underground Railroad was in full (but highly secretive) swing, Sarah’s Wish starts off with a bang-- a runaway wagon that leaves Sarah an orphan-- and keeps sweeping the reader quickly along. There’s a certain secret Sarah promises to keep for her mom and a couple of bad dudes that want to uncover that secret: slave catchers. At just 12 years old, Sarah is frightened yet brave as she carries on her mother’s work and eventually has to learn to trust others that are part of the network of people working to help slaves escape too.

More than anything, Sarah wishes and prays for new parents. Through the comfort of her pastor and the help of local characters like “Granny” and “Doc Baum”, Sarah is well loved, protected and taken care of. Finally, she receives word that a family, whom she has never met, wants to adopt her as their own! This is an answer to prayer but met with mixed feelings as she must leave the town that she loves and the work her mother entrusted to her as well. She journeys to meet with the family but finds that her dreams and their reality may not be as compatible as she hoped…

Author Jim Baumgardner is a wonderfully colorful character himself. Hailing from Kansas, Mr. Baumgardner is a living part of history in the Old Cowtown Museum where he tells stories to visitors each day as the “town barber”. His “Sarah” series began as a quest to make great wholesome stories for his grandkids to read. They have become a special treasure that he is sharing with the rest of us as well! I highly encourage you to visit his website www.sarahsbooks.net where you can order all of Sarah’s books and enjoy good, clean and educational fun for the entire family—books worth passing on in your home library or proudly giving as gifts! In fact, you can have your books autographed by the author, just look for the box to write in the name you wish for him to address it to...talk about a personal touch! Sarah’s Wish is just $9.99 on the website, with free shipping. Or, get all three Sarah books for $39.95 (retail would be $47.97) and free shipping too!

One terrific feature is that each book comes with a code from the publisher that allows you to download the audio book for FREE! You can then burn it onto your own CD to listen to in the car or download it onto an MP3 player. Also, if you sign up for Mr. Baumgardner’s email list, you will get a fun and informative newsletter with interesting historical facts about life in Sarah’s time period, herbal remedies (that “Granny” recommends), words of wisdom, contests for the kids and more!

If your family loves to read as much as we do, don’t miss this opportunity to give your kids wholesome and adventurous books that teach history while they entertain. It is a great investment in worthwhile reading!

This just in!!! Mr. Baumgardner is offering a special price for those of you visiting his website thanks to a TOS Crew Blog (yes, this is one!). If you will contact him via his link, and ask for the TOS Crew special order form, he will email it to you and you can save even more! Don't you feel special?!!!

Guardian Angel Publishing has Heavenly Books!

The folks at Guardian Angel Publishing must have overheard Charlotte Mason commenting on the difference between “fluff” and good literature. They have nicely stepped around the fluff and handed over some gems that will teach their readers about character, educating their mind and as well as their soul. It was a pleasure to read the books that they sent for review!

Andy and Spirit Go to the Fair, by Mary Jean Kelso, is a sweet story with a uniquely special main character. Well, make that two. Andy is a young man who is physically challenged and must get around through the use of a wheelchair. However, put him on the back of the other star, Spirit the horse, and you have a powerful combination of freedom and equality. Spirit is different too, as you’ll see in the vibrant pictures illustrated by K.C. Snider. Spirit is an albino horse that attracts some attention due to his unusual eyes. The beautiful moral of the book is captured by Andy, when he leans down and whispers to Spirit, “Don’t worry, Spirit. You can’t help it if your eyes are pink. There’s something wrong with everybody. Just not all of it shows.” What a wonderful reminder to our children, whether they have some challenges or not!

At the end of Andy and Spirit Go to the Fair, you can read some interesting information on wild horses, as well as find out how you can adopt horses too! Furthermore, the reader is introduced to “4-H” in Andy’s story and can learn more about getting involved with the 4-H Club. (Prices vary depending on format: eBook: $5, eBook CD is $9.95 plus shipping, print book $10.95 plus shipping and coming soon is the book on DVD for $9.95 plus shipping).

Teaching your kids about nouns and adjectives has never been so fun and easy, in my opinion, as in the presentation of Hamster Holidays, Noun and Adjective Adventures, by Cynthia Reeg. This amusing poem about various hamster holidays (you know, the usual: Sing a Song Day, Puddle Jumping Day etc.), highlights the use of nouns in blue and adjectives in red. Illustrator Kit Grady has some delightfully silly pictures of these hamsters dressed up and making messes! After twelve months of holidays, the book continues the lesson with a chance for the reader to identify nouns and adjectives in another goofy, short story. Following that, there are various exercises like matching nouns and proper nouns, and adjective word-finds.


Hamster Holidays, Noun and Adjective Adventures, will really help your child identify these two basic grammar words. If you get the eBook, which I would recommend, you can print out the exercises repeatedly as your child works the puzzles and games to improve his or her prior score. (Prices: eBook: $5, eBook CD is $9.95 plus shipping, print book $10.95 plus shipping).

Bright, cartooned illustrations really caught my eye in the story Maybe We Are Flamingos, by Safari Sue Thurman. Tropical colors used by artist Kevin Collier help to tell the story of two flamingo chicks that realize they look different from the rest of the flamingo family. They are not pink! They wonder what they could be and where they really belong until their mother explains that it takes about a year to turn pink and that the change in color will occur through their diet. The flamingo chicks then go on to joke about what they might look like if they were to eat just broccoli, peppermints or other crazy things (with drawings to match!). Maybe We Are Flamingos also has a new iPhone App. that is part of a new way to explore reading from Guardian Angel Publishing ($2.99). Your kids can hear quality stories anywhere with stories that will go along with the App. Cool! (Book prices: eBook: $5, eBook CD is $9.95 plus shipping, print book $10.95 plus shipping).


The next story was just a kick to read! And, you know what? It takes many strong bones to perform a nice kick! The Sum of Our Parts: No Bones about It… by Bill Kirk is a kicky little poem (pun intended) that helps kids learn all of the proper bone names from toes to skull. Along with the poem are amazing factoids with “Did you know” questions and statements. Kids will find out how tall the tallest man was and how many bones we are born with (verses how many we end up with once some of them fuse together), among many other interesting facts.


Illustrator Eugene Ruble has put together realistic bone drawings along with some funny cartoons to help the reader make sense of all the information. The end of the book includes complete skeletal drawings with and without names so that kids can try to name the parts themselves. A neat little addition is a mystery drawing of a bone on each page that the reader can try to identify. The Sum of Our Parts: No Bones about It… is a clever way for kids to enjoy science and learn anatomy! (Prices: eBook: $5, eBook CD is $9.95 plus shipping, print book $10.95 plus shipping).


Finally, much as my kids do when they eat, I have saved my favorite book for last. Rainbow Sheep by Kim Chatel was just very imaginative, sweet, well written and beautifully pictured. I say pictured because, rather than illustrating this book, Ms. Chatel creatively uses colored wool to create pictures to complement her story. They are soft and endearing; very unique!


Genevieve is tending her sheep a hillside one rainy day. Wanting some sunshine instead, this young shepherdess climbs to the top of the hill and tickles the clouds to get them to move. Successfully done (always works for me!), a rainbow comes out but it is weak and gloomy. The optimistic Genevieve points out all the wonderful reasons the rainbow has to be happy and in the end the rainbow brightens and laughs so hard it overflows with happy tears. Well, all that rainbow stuff just gets all over everything…even the sheep!


After the Rainbow Sheep story, the reader is introduced to a short history of felting and is presented with instructions for a project to try with felt: making felted soap. (Ok, I must admit, this sounds kind of gross…fuzz in my soap? However, it looks really colorful and creative! So I probably should try it and blog about it another time!). No doubt, kids would love it…definitely a good Christmas gift project! (Prices: eBook: $5, eBook CD is $9.95 plus shipping, print book $10.95 plus shipping, DVD book $9.95 plus shipping).


Guardian Angel Publishing has many more educational and inspiring books like these waiting to be explored by your child. Their targeted age group is 0-12 years so there is a nice range of things for most kids. Take a look at their website and see for yourself:
www.guardianangelpublishing.com will take you there. Check out their FREE eBooks just for stopping by!

Hope for Slow Readers and Other Learning Difficulties!

Doing reviews is a lot of fun, getting to try new things and experimenting with the unfamiliar often brings surprises to me (with the results) or with my kids (how fun or interesting something was), but this time it brought a bit of disappointment. With Bonnie Terry Learning’s Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, it was disappointment in the fact that I just now found the program!

You see, my son is mildly autistic and reads fairly well but rather stilted, often skipping words or substituting something close to the actual word. We homeschooled for years, doing various therapies to help with his different challenges; some things we tried were just downright torturous. This is NOT the case with the Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills program. In about five minutes, there is a lot happening for my son to help him become a better reader and it is just about as painless a program as I have seen.

I will be honest with my testing methods, however. I have not gotten to test this out as long as I really would have liked. For one, I no longer homeschool this particular child and so finding a regular time to do the exercises was hard. We are involved in a lot of extracurricular activities so it wasn’t that I couldn’t find five minutes, it just seemed that the five minutes were found sporadically, in different time slots and so were often inconsistent. So, we sort of started and stopped until I decided to just take a few minutes before he caught the bus first thing in the morning. Though that is not my best time of day…he was the one having to think fast and he actually enjoyed it!

The drills used in Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, are based on different sounds: vowel sounds, vowel combos, consonants etc. Using a student book and teacher book, which are basically identical, the child is timed to read as many drill words as possible within one minute. The teacher follows along in their own book, keeping a sheet protector over the word list and making a note on the page if the child misses a word. The teacher’s page is also marked with the number of words in various lines so that it is easy to tally the student’s words per minute.

When the minute is over, simply subtract the number of words mispronounced or skipped from the total word count and that gives the actual word per minute score. The student (or parent depending on the age and needs of the child) then colors in a graph showing how many words they accomplished on a particular drill, and another graph showing the mistakes made.

For my son, who is 16, we took a baseline score and then made a goal that in order to move on to the next drill, he would need to increase his score by 20 words per minute. Day one his score was 58, day two he improved to 67. Day three he accomplished 80 per minute but managed to skip a whole row of words and therefore had too many errors to move on (no more than four allowed). Day four he read 85 words per minute (and yes, this score is after I deducted his errors) but again he skipped a row of words. Finally, day five he shot up to 93 words and zero errors! Yes! He was excited and I was impressed! That is almost double the score with very little effort. The process then began all over again with the next set of drill words.

Each day, after the drill, we would spend the rest of our “five minutes” reading from a book that was at his reading level, with some challenge to it. He has been working on a Nancy Drew mystery. Each day his reading gains confidence and inflection, though he still has some trouble with skipping words at this point.

As I stated earlier, I wish I had discovered this program before now! I love efficiency and author Bonny Terry has done come up with a great, streamlined approach that gets the job done. Helping kids learn better is what Ms. Terry has always done, writing her own curriculum in school until others begged her to publish her methods to help them succeed in their classrooms too. Bonnie Terry Learning carries more than just Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, she has published books to help with spelling, studying, math, writing and comprehension as well. Check out her website at www.bonnieterrylearning.com to see descriptions of all the great products. Ms. Terry also has helpful articles and short videos that you can view online to give you hope in many areas in which kids struggle, such as dyslexia and ADD. With so many valuable tools at reasonable prices (Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills runs $60) you can tackle learning difficulties with confidence and give your child some worthwhile tools to face their challenges!

Nature Friend Magazine: I'm Lovin' It

My kids aren’t always so enthused about their “guinea pig” status when it comes to reviewing curriculum. Some items are naturally more appealing than others. Nature Friend magazine is NOT one of those product reviews that I had to remind my kids to try out. Each issue has been eagerly read by all of my kids.

We used to subscribe to Nature Friend, and like many things that become “out of sight, out of mind,” I sort of forgot about renewing again. Well, after these last two complimentary issues for review, it is clear I need to renew my subscription (and I intend to!).

There are so many great features to Nature Friend, I am not sure where to start. I guess what really pops out, while casually leafing through, would be the photography. It is just stunning. From gorgeous close-up pictures of many different creatures, to sweeping scenic expanses, the magazine glorifies God in the beauty of His creation.

Furthermore, there are excellent articles that help readers learn about amazingly clever animals. Some, like the Weaverbird that instinctively weave complex grass nests, have instincts that make you marvel. Still others, such as a walking stick, are just awesome to look at and contemplate (did you know that some of these “twigsects” can get up to a foot long? Yikes!).

There are many features about Nature Friend that the kids look forward to in every issue. One would be the “Scavenger Hunt” in which very subtle drawings appear randomly throughout the magazine waiting to be hunted down by the reader. The “Invisibles” picture is always fun too, having many hidden items in a well-drawn nature scene. There are crossword puzzles and art lessons too! A big hit is the “You Can Draw…” section; it teaches how to draw a certain item (bear, branches, birds etc.) and publishes some of the pictures drawn or painted by other readers from a previous month’s subject. My 14 year old took the time to paint a Black Bear and did a marvelous job. I wanted to take a picture of it to post with this blog but she anxiously sealed it up and sent it off to Nature Friend in hopes of being selected for an upcoming issue.

What strikes me most about Nature Friend is their inclusion of the reader. It is about as interactive as a magazine could be. Encouraging and publishing poetry, photography and articles by their young readers is a big part of what they do. In fact, they publish an entire issue each year from 100% of reader’s submissions! Taking reader demographics to a new level, Nature Friend also tailors the magazine to different ages by alternating a younger emphasis one month with an older, more complex emphasis the next. No one is left out; but even if it is not your child’s “targeted” age group, they will still get a lot from what they look at and read. Beware! It is just as appealing to adults! My mother got a hold of one and gave it a thorough looking over-- and I love to look at it as well.

The overarching feel of the magazine, what they strive to present and project in all of their pages, is God’s glory revealed in creation. It is evident from the front cover to the back that Nature Friend wants to point our awe and our interests upward to the Creator, rather than being solely focused on the creation itself. Thank you, Nature Friend, for this wonderful stand for truth that is not at all subtle!

For your own subscription to this great little magazine…visit their website at www.naturefriendmagazine.com where you can get a one year subscription for $36 or a two year for $68. For an extra $2 per issue, they will include a study guide for further discovery (acrostics, true and false questions, photography tips and more…great for the homeschooler!).

Evolutionary Silliness

The other evening we were enjoying the movie "Master and Commander", with Russell Crowe. A high-seas epic, beautifully filmed adventure, that I would highly recommend. It is a great, wholesome family flick-- if you can handle a bit of sword fighting carnage.

The doctor on board the ship was a "naturalist". He collected specimen of animals and insects as a hobby. In one scene, he is sharing a book with a young boy that has taken an interest in being a naturalist as well. The two are looking at some of the illustrations in the book; pictures of insects with incredible camouflage such as a walking stick and some sort of bug that looks just like a thorn. The doctor explains that these disguises are to protect the insects from predators. The young boy is in awe and asks, "Did God make them like that?" (or something along those lines). The doctor smiles (a bit patronizingly) and answers, "Yes, God. And, they made themselves like that."

That just struck me as absurdly funny! Though insects are fascinating and industrious, they have no ability to reason or have more than an instinctive thought. They aren't known for advancing scientific theories or having feelings and emotions. "Fight or flight" is the basic way of life for any insect or animal.

Now take me-- your typical human. I can think and reason and emote and all those other things that set me apart from dung beetles and tree sloths, but can I lose 10 pounds? Can I maintain a healthy diet? Can I exercise on even a semi-regular basis? Nope, nope and nope. Can I keep a smile on my face when the house is falling apart around me? Can I even keep said house clean on a regular basis? Can I selflessly serve my husband without thought for my own needs? Big fat nopesies on all of the above. The fact is, apart from the help of the Holy Spirit, I can do nothing worthwhile. The older I get the more helpless I see that I am to do anything good or change anything effectively apart from the grace of God.

I think if, as a "species," we women could will ourselves to "evolve"... by now we would have conquered the cellulite glitch in our DNA, developed naturally long and lush eyelashes, and learned to survive on raw vegetation without a thought for chocolate. If only.

Once again, it just seems to take a whole lot more faith to believe in the random, minuscule plausibility of evolution than in a Creator that...well...creates things like bugs that would look exactly like a stick (which He also created... so He basically just reused the same pattern). Its just plain silly to believe a non-reasoning organism could, in a premeditated sort of way, change its appearance over time, passing that need to change on to its offspring (by way of genetics, rather than explanations), and cause its outward appearance to change and even mirror the habitat in which it lives. That's some amazing faith!

I'll stick with the unpopular notion of a loving God that created me in His image. Cellulite and all. (Ok, I am not implying God has cellulite...I am sure it is a tragic result of The Fall-- thanks Eve, darling!). Believe me, if I could have wished cellulite (and bad hair days) away, that would have happened a loooonnng time ago! In the meantime, the only way I can do anything worthwhile in my life is to rely on the strength of God to work in spite of the weakness of my flesh. Without Him I would just be a big, lazy sloth with moss growing on my ugly hair. I'll take a bad hair day and a redeemed soul any day!

College Prep Genius: Scholarship Central...Cha-ching!

Though it is evident my ninth grader has a looong way to go before she is ready to take the SAT, I also have hope that she will be confidently prepared when the time comes, thanks to College Prep Genius from Jean Burk. This is part two of my review of this program. The first being my overall impression of the material, and this second one after I have tested it on my guinea pig/daughter (I’ll refer to her as “D”).

Knowing that putting my daughter through all the paces of the program in about a month may certify me as an insane homeschooling mother, and desiring to neither be locked up nor to have CPS come for a visit, I opted for taking on just the Critical Reading Section. Two reasons: first, D is just now in Algebra 1 so it would not make much sense to test her on what she is just beginning to grasp. Secondly, reading comprehension is not her strength and therefore I wanted to see how the material would help her.

My oldest daughter graduated this past spring and she had an SAT practice book that had several practice tests still in tact. Therefore, I picked out the three Critical Reading Sections from one particular test and did a sort of “before” and “after” experiment. I had D try one section on her own, prior to any help or advice. Um…she might not like my publishing the score, but for the sake of the review, I must. It was 25%. Yeah, pitiful.

We then moseyed to the DVD player and popped in the DVD on doing the Critical Reading Section. I had already watched it once, saw the great logic behind the advice, and appreciated the tips in the form of acronyms. Ms. Burk pointed out that the SAT is not an IQ test but a logic test. (This may not be news to some of you but it was novel to me!). There are patterns that all SAT (or PSAT or ACT) tests use and once you understand those patterns you are on the road to improving your score dramatically.

I had D watch the DVD and follow along in the student workbook. After this, I had her take the other two portions of the SAT test, allowing her to view the various acronyms that apply to that section. In reality, a student would need to memorize these acronyms using flashcards, so that they could bring their usefulness into the testing site stored in the gray matter between the ears. Well, it wasn’t realistic at this point to have D commit the acronyms to memory (there are six different ones, most using each letter to start a sentence rather than just a word) so we “cheated” a smidge and left the book open to the acronyms that applied.

When D was finished, I asked her if the hints helped to clarify the right answer for her. She said that it helped some but she did not yet completely understand the hints, either. The subtle differences between some things such as eliminating: additional information, contradictory information, irrelevant information and obscure information left her a bit befuddled. However, I would only blame this on having been so recently exposed to the material/concepts and not having time to assimilate it (coupled with the fact that, as I stated, reading is not her strongest point. She is a math-minded gal). I find the hints in the acronyms are very helpful and, once clarified and memorized by the student, can see that they would give a definite advantage when approaching this part of the test.

So…the result? Was there an improvement in her score? Well, I wouldn’t say she is ready for the real deal but, yes, there was definitely improvement. In one section, she scored 39% (still in the “pitiful” range), the other section she had a whopping 62%, which is vastly better but still needs work!

The verdict: after looking through the material and viewing the DVDs, and doing a test run, there is an enormous amount of help to be gained through College Prep Genius. Ms. Burk breaks down the amount of time needed to be spent in study to prepare for the SAT, doing it her way, and shows how it pays off in the dividends of scholarships. It is realistic. It has been done by others. It will be done by my daughter :).

When my oldest daughter was preparing for the SAT, we enrolled her in quite an expensive class that she attended for six or eight weeks. One of the projects required was making stacks; I mean huge hunks, of vocabulary flashcards. It was grueling! One thing College Prep Genius insists on is that there is NO NEED to memorize vast quantities of vocabulary words (of which you may not see even one of on a test), if you will learn their secrets to decoding the meaning and eliminating wrong answers, you are vocab-ready!

This system will still take a lot of work and effort to pay off. Nevertheless, it is streamlined and very doable, not overwhelming. Ms. Burk has done the research and set up some excellent strategies to give students the edge and confidence they need to score well on the SAT. It is a worthy investment of your time and money, one I am glad to have come across! I can hardly believe it is time to start preparing D for this big test, but it is. Having College Prep Genius leaves me no excuses!

The website for this program, http://www.collegeprepgenius.com/, is full of helpful articles on scholarships, raising test scores and more. Check out the testimonials of students that did awesome on their tests thanks to College Prep Genius. The entire program, (DVD, workbook and text) are available for a special introductory price of just $79 dollars (regularly $115). Even at the regular price, this is waaayyy cheaper than the class we put our oldest in last year! This is one small investment that could really pay off in big ways in the future. I hope you’ll look into it!

Reflections on 20 Years of Marital Bliss!

On October 7th, my husband Billy and I will have the distinct pleasure of being married for 20 years! “That’s half of your life,” my math-minded hubby pointed out recently. Wow. I have been letting that sink in lately, mulling over the fact that I, basically, “grew up” as a married woman. Oh, I thought I was all grown up at age 20, as I walked down the aisle, ready to say “I do” to Prince Charming. And, although I was mature in many ways, there are just certain characteristics that internally develop only through time and experience. I just happen to have the privilege of maturing along side a very godly man. I don’t regret it for a minute but time does let us look back at God’s hand of provision, protection and His “mysterious ways” with a certain sense of awe and amazement.

I am astonished at God’s loving care in even bringing me into a relationship with Billy to begin with. I was allowed, yea even encouraged, to date from quite a young age. Though raised in a Christian home, this was not during the serge of homeschooling families that were pulling away from the world. Somehow, the Lord kept me close to Him, walking in the light I had (and my parent’s light as well, I don’t blame them in any way), and leading me to Texas where I met my future husband one day at church.

Though somewhat older than me, his job wasn’t the greatest when we married and I have distinct memories of newly wed predicaments: eating off of the ironing board because we only had two chairs, a waterbed and dresser to our name…eating Hamburger Helper because I didn’t know how to cook…spending $15 on some decorations for the tree, that would have otherwise been empty, and getting a lecture because we didn’t have $15 to spare…not driving my car for months because the tags were expired and having to wait for Billy to get home to use his car to go to the store, only to get pulled over one morning on our way to church because his tags were expired too (the same month as my car!)…eating Hamburger Helper months later because I was still learning to cook on a very limited budget…playing “April Fools” jokes on each other (that’s another story)…going to watch the planes land at the air force bases for “free” entertainment…making a huge bowl of French fries, only French fries, for dinner one evening and finding out I was better off making Hamburger Helper…oh, the memories!

Somehow, we made it through all of those newly wed speed bumps, managing to remain pretty crazy about one another. Here we are 20 years later, maybe just a bit crazy--- period--- but also very much in love. The longer we are married, the more I notice that many other marriages aren’t quite as loving and happy as our own and that just makes me sad, even angry. It is a shame that so many are missing out on what the Lord has for them through the blessing of marriage.

What Billy and I have should be the norm, especially in a Christian union but it is unfortunately quite rare. Why are so many marriages failing? Why is the divorce rate in the church the same as that in the world?

I can only speak for our marriage, not really being able to relate to the unhappiness around me. Why is everyone willing to settle for so-so, hum-drum and see-ya-later? Why is marriage not prized and valued and fought for with every fiber of our being? It is sacred, it is holy, it is designed by our loving heavenly father to be a blessing. What lies have we believed that makes so many so quick to look for greener pastures?


I can't answer these questions but I often wonder about them. All I know is what has worked for us. So, perhaps a discussion of these things could be helpful to someone else. I pray the Lord would use any of these things as needed to help readjust your focus on Him and His plan.

I will back up and begin at the beginning, (so clever), and talk to those of you that may be single or engaged. I want you to start on the right foot. You can't do things the world's way and expect heavenly results!

Purity matters. Commit to being the wedding present that your spouse gets to open on your honeymoon night. A short study of covenants will reveal that biblical covenants involved sacrifice (usually of animals, eventually the most precious of all being that of Jesus), their blood being the seal of the covenant. When a virgin joins in a union with a man for the first time, what happens? There is blood that seals that covenant of oneness. That is not some fluke of evolution but an amazing plan on the part of God the Father that created the idea of marriage and intercourse. If you have already given that part of yourself away, repent. The Lord forgives all sins when you have accepted the sacrifice of His son. Repent and commit to purity; don’t beat yourself up but don’t justify remaining in fornication either (“well, it’s too late now…”).

Secondly, divorce is not an option. It cannot be. Satan knows that the relationship of husband and wife mirrors that of Christ and His bride, the church. Division in the home allows for that much more division in the church, ruining our witness and causing the world to mock what God has ordained as sacred. I am not going to touch on strange and unusual circumstances of abuse or drug use etc. but I am discussing the normal struggles and potential lack of feelings that will inevitably come in a relationship. Those things that are beyond the “norm” would still need to be handled with wisdom and a strong desire for restoration. Godly counseling is the only kind to get for any sort of marriage crisis, in any case.

Once you commit to marriage for good, “for better or for worse”, don’t just settle for existing under the same roof. Love each other, even if you don’t necessarily feel “in love”. Feelings are fickle. They will wax and wane but they will always return, in deeper ways, when you treat your spouse with tender consideration, serving their needs, and working to make the life you have one of happiness. The joy of the Lord needs to be your strength; it is the only kind of joy that will last, regardless of the circumstance. If your happiness is based on circumstance, it is extremely shallow. Make loving your mate an adventure. Have dates. Even staying at home because you are flat broke, as we once were, is no excuse…light a candle…pick some flowers…enjoy a backrub…snuggle while watching a movie. Just doing things out of the ordinary now and then strengthens the love relationship and says, “I am making an effort because I think you are worth it.” If your spouse doesn’t seem to notice-- do it anyway. “But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” Matthew 6:3-4.

Your children need you to stay married, my friend. Some may reason that it is worse for the kids to be a part of a “loveless marriage” than for the parents to divorce so they can be happy (that would be the parents not the kids). I can testify that this is utterly false. My parents had a loveless marriage. I knew I was the glue. That was ok; I also knew that they loved me enough to stay together. Though I didn’t agree with how they had just given up on being able to enjoy a good marriage, (which I think drove me to want the best from my own marriage), but they showed me that marriage was worth the commitment, if at least for my sake. Kids need that security and they need that example. Everything, everything else in this world says it is all about us, our happiness, and if it doesn’t work the way we think it should it is disposable. If marriage is truly to be a reflection of the relationship of Christ to His church, what message does that send to our children about God’s faithfulness? One that is false, because God is always faithful, but they will adopt it nonetheless.

Finally, we all must accept that, ultimately, it is not about us! We like to make it so, I do too, and things seem much more enjoyable to me when it all goes my way, but that is another great American falsehood. It is not about us. It is about the Lord. It is about our covenant before God that should be taken very seriously. “Until death do us part,” should not be merely mouthed with ceremonial emptiness. You have stood before God and man and made a vow and that must be honored, even defended, at all costs. “For better or for worse,” really needs to mean just that. We all want to highlight the “better” part and forget we ever said “or worse.”

I recently heard something that actually spurred this article into existence. I have been thinking about it a lot. You have heard people say something like, “couples that pray together, stay together.” Sounds like a nice little quip, but is actually a doctrinally skewed statement. First off, it is a way of saying that God is obligated to us in some way (i.e. making us happy so we want to stay together) because we have fulfilled our obligation to pray. This is a “works” mentality at best and the prosperity gospel at worst (or maybe the former is worse than the latter, I can’t say for sure!).

Rather, I Peter 3:7 says that we are to be “heirs together of the grace of life, that our prayers may not be hindered.” This effectively states that we should have a marriage full of love and grace (a.k.a. committed and gracious toward one another) so that our prayers our heard by the Father. That pretty much turns the other notion on its head. Now that is something to ponder!

It just isn’t about us. It is about glorifying God in all we do, particularly this commitment of marriage. That is a high calling, but one made possible by the Holy Spirit living in us and by the love of God abiding with us. We will all stand before Him one day and give an account; that is not something to take lightly. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Apply His wisdom to your marriage and glorify Him by honoring your covenant.

I will leave you with two pieces of advice that our pastor gave to us during our wedding ceremony. They have made a lasting impression on both Billy and I and we have shared them with others many times. Simple but effective, I pray they will be a baby steps in the right direction, if you are struggling.

First, this may seem simple or even obvious but it is a quality often lost to familiarity: always be courteous. You should not be more polite to strangers and acquaintances than you are to each other. Use manners and be considerate. Men: open the door for your wife, treat her with gentleness, lead by serving, and consider her feelings in making decisions. Ladies: respect your husband, encourage his dreams, cook him good meals, do not manipulate with your emotions and try not to assault him with all 25,000 of your “daily word quota” when he walks in the door! Everyone: you can still say “please” and “thank you”, even “excuse me” when you make bodily noises!
Pardon me while I harp on the ladies for a minute…after all, I am female, so this goes as a reminder for me too! Another false quip that I have heard goes something like, “respect is not a right, it must be earned.” That may be true out in the business world but it is a hurtful position to claim in your marriage. You are to respect the position of your husband, the position that God chose for Him to have simply by marrying you…that, indeed, is the only qualification needed. You are commanded to respect your husband, and much like tithing, it should be done cheerfully, not through gritted teeth. I would highly recommend the book "Created to be His Helpmeet", by Debi Pearl (www.nogreaterjoy.org), for a well rounded study on being the wife God intends for you to be (and the natural byproduct of such obedience just happens to be a more fulfilling and blissful marriage! How ‘bout that!).

Sorry about the rabbit trail there…where was I?

Oh yes, marital advice from our ceremony! The other point that really struck us was this: My spouse can never make me mad. I may choose to get mad. However, if I can choose to be angry, I can also choose to be happy or thankful or whatever else that may be more constructive. We have practiced this and we have a great relationship because of it.

Lastly, the old adage that you have probably heard and—hopefully-- practiced is also a great habit: never go to bed angry! This is simply a restatement of Jesus’ instructions not to let the sun go down on our anger and it is the best way to walk in love and forgiveness toward each other, not letting the little things build up.

A good healthy relationship must be very intentional. I have heard it often stated that “marriage is a lot of work” but I honestly have never felt that it was so. If you focus on the Lord and on each other’s needs above your own, if you are not in competition with one another but want to consider the other as better than yourself, if you walk in forgiveness and learn to laugh together, the rest of life just happens around the peacefulness of your relationship. It will be a joy and blessing to your children as well as a wonderful legacy to leave them. Don’t be a statistic! Be salt, be light, be the exception to the rule and the couple that others turn to when they have problems. Honor your covenant and glorify God. Make Satan mad.

Roots and Fruits: An Abundant Garden of Vocabulary Words!

Raise your hand if you love dead languages! Ok…not an overwhelming response…can’t say my hand shot right up either. Well, I think we will have to settle for learning to appreciate the value of dead languages instead. That I can do. And so can your children.

We all know that an understanding of Latin and Greek can make a huge difference on tests, particularly an SAT or ACT. However, daily reading comprehension in all school subjects in another benefit of learning these languages; after all most of our English language is built upon the foundation of Latin and Greek. (By the way, Greek is NOT a dead language, though ancient Greek is considered dead by many sites I googled.)

This is where a valuable tool, Roots and Fruits by Jill J. Dixon, comes in quite handily. A former teacher and a homeschool mother that was alarmed by the lack of comprehension that many students exhibited, Ms. Dixon set out to fix the problem by writing this helpful curriculum.

The great thing about this program is that the one book is used for all grades, K-12. It contains 673 roots and prefixes as well as 1716 vocabulary words, many of which will appear on the SAT and ACT. Using English forms of Latin and Greek words, as well as offering many helpful tips and games to make the roots stick, this user friendly book needs only 15 minutes a day to enhance your child’s ability to read with understanding from any subject.

We have incorporated this into our daily routine and things have been going swimmingly. The kids really do complete the suggested routine on time (introducing the new prefix etc. writing the meaning, giving some words as an example and then splitting the words up that they will hunt for in the dictionary). There are no complaints and the process of becoming little geniuses has been painless.

The root list compiled by Ms. Dixon is very extensive. I have used other programs that needed several volumes to complete. The nearly 700 prefixes and roots in Roots and Fruits will easily fill most of a child’s school career. There are asterisks next many words that are recommended for younger students. Year after year, you can work your way through this book and build that vocabulary that will impact their school career as well as provide enjoyment in leisurely reading as well.

At only $19.98, Roots and Fruits is a no-brainer investment to make in your homeschool. You can currently get the eBook of Roots and Fruits downloaded right to your computer for just $11.25 (25% off), and this is one book that would easily translate into an eBook without loss of usefulness. Visit their website at http://www.edudps.com/ to order and while your there check out the plethera of products to help with all of your English and writing needs!

Kudos to Ms. Dixon for a great vaocabulary program! ("Kudos" is Greek for praise or extol...hey, I am picking this stuff up quick!).

Nutrition 101. Getting Back to Basics

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (3 John 1:2) How has our soul prospered, my friend? If we have come to the saving knowledge of Christ, then we are rich in every way, reborn in the image of Christ and able to overcome the power of sin. That’s just a quick summary! But, the apostle John also writes in this verse that he prays for our health to prosper! Can you look at yourself and your family and feel confident that they are prospering in health?

It doesn’t take a genius to look around our society and notice the obesity problem that plagues our country. According to the World Health Organization, the U.S.^th in the world for obesity in males and 8^th for obesity in females (as of January 2009). This is not something to be bragging about! And we have all seen the rising problem of childhood obesity making headlines, diabetes and all. No doubt we can thank the S.A.D. way we eat (Standard American Diet), the fact that we are fast food and convenience food consumers, as well as being a nation that has little knowledge, in general, about natural ways to heal, banking instead on a magic pill that the doctor can prescribe for most anything. ranks 5

So, how do we change the momentum in the lives of our families? This isn’t something that can happen by “tweaking” a few things here and there. We need a paradigm shift in our understanding, conviction that will lead to action and then tools to implement the changes we know are life-giving, even life-saving. Hosea 4:6 states that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” This implies that the knowledge is there to be discovered, if we are willing to make the effort.

Enter a wonderful program that makes living healthy attainable: Nutrition 101: Choose Life! (Taken from Deuteronomy 30:19 “…now choose life that both you and your children may live.”) A bit anatomy and biology book, a bit health course, recipe book and bible study this informative volume makes renewing your mindset in these areas a breeze! The authors, Debra Raybern N.D., Sera Johnson, Laura Hopkins and Karen Hopkins have packed this 448 page book with everything you need to be able to make these longed-for changes. They are also all homeschooling mothers that have used this material in their home and know that it works.

This curriculum can be used at home, as a unit study approach, or used in a coop just as easily. Although it is designed to take a chapter a week to complete, it could be done several years in a row, choosing different enrichment activities and recipes to give it variance. There are a wide variety of suggestions, good for different ages, which will keep things fresh for everyone. Really, good habits will come from repetition so everyone would benefit from hearing this information and being reminded of it as they swim upstream in our junk food society.

I personally love the clear, vibrant photos that are used in the book. From close up, 3-D renderings of nerves to beautifully prepared meals, the book encourages study by being well put together. Each chapter ends with Discussion Questions, Activities (including Power Recipes to put into practice what you are learning), and Additional Resources to delve deeper, if so desired. I really appreciate the emphasis on natural health care, using food to synergize your body systems for optimum performance and self healing, too. The Appendix also contains a variety of worthwhile articles on topics ranging from microwaves to minerals and from mold to milk. There’s just so much good stuff in this book, I really hope that you will get your home a copy and prayerfully use and apply it.

As Christians, our standard and statistics should be much higher than the worlds in all areas of life (we are, after all, children of the Creator of all life, with a great Instruction Book to follow!). Instead, we are sadly mirroring the world in so many ways; divorce rates and loss of purity within our youth included (don’t even get me started!). I would venture a guess that we may be ahead of the game on the obesity scale since potlucks and fellowship meals can be one of the main ways we commune together as a body. Please don’t think that I have all of this down either. It is one of my biggest struggles! I love food, I love to cook and I have a serious sweet tooth. Eating right is a continual battle, but one I can take the offensive on thanks to the thoroughness of Nutrition 101: Choose Life! and by maintaining a dependence on the Lord for strength to make good, daily choices.

To obtain your own copy of this terrific program, visit their website at www.growinghealthyhomes.com where you can order the hardbound book for $99.95, the CD-Rom for $79.95 or both for a discounted total of $129.95.

My Crazy Life!

There's "busy" and then there's my life lately: "busy on steroids". Things have been blowing and going all the way through Labor Day in my household and the dust is just barely starting to settle now that school has begun.

Not that it is terribly interesting to anyone else, but by way of explanation we have experienced a graduation, a house full of company, swim team (this being our first year I was astounded to find it took the better part of the day to accomplish a swim meet!), a family trip to Colorado and Wyoming which ended with dropping my oldest off for missions training, returning home to leave a week later to Mississippi for a family reunion, and somewhere in the midst of all this, ordering school material for my 6th and 9th graders. I think there's more but that's all my blurry, overloaded brain can recall at the moment!

Oh yeah, the other biggie has been being a reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine! That has been my time-consumer (what little free time there is!). Don't get me wrong, I am honored to be able to review all these fun products and thrilled that I get all these surprise packages in the mail with lots of wondrous homeschooling items! However, there has been way more books and charts etc. to fit into our lives than I had ever imagined. It has been fun but challenging to juggle. So, basically anytime I have some time to write on this blog of mine, it is in order to review an item rather than write for my own purposes.

So, I guess today I am just writing out of frustration! I am thankful to know that the Lord doesn't desire for me to just keep my head above water and dive exhausted into bed each night. I realize that some of this is our own doing, my own doing, in the life of our family. It is now my prayerful desire to streamline life into a workable schedule and take back control of things that have taken control of me. Well,then give them to the Lord, of course. He's the one that needs to be in control, not me! All I would do is add another thing that we could maybe squeeze into an available 15 minute time slot. Crazy.

But, I do hope that I will be back more often. I will continue to post product reviews, but I plan to have more personal fun and thoughtful articles as well. Thanks to those of you who have been checking in!

In the meantime...church tonight...volleyball game tomorrow...exercise? No way, I'm too busy...correct math...make dinner...finish laundry...don't remember the last time I mopped so probably need to find time for that...Did you say something? Was that a chicken? Do I have ADHD???

Scholarship Central: College Prep Genius!

They say big things come in small packages…I believe that may be true in the case of College Prep Genius. Two booklets and one DVD pack a big punch for students looking to improve their score on the SAT (as well as the PSAT and the NMSQT). Highly recommended for parents that would like their child to go to college sans full-priced tuition too!

College Prep Genius has scoured the secrets to maximizing higher test scores while giving confidence to the student by arming them with information on recurring patterns and red herrings found in the SAT et al. You see, these tests are not I.Q. tests, they are tests of logic and reasoning and they are specifically designed to throw students off by the way the problems are stated. However, “the tests are always objective and never subjective” so with well-honed reasoning skills and familiarity with concealed codes, students can greatly increase their test scores and get some serious scholarships!

We are in the process of using some of this material with my freshman-aged daughter, so this post just serves as an introduction to College Prep Genius. It really hit me, when looking over this information, that the time to start working towards SAT preparation is now, not when she is about to take the SAT! This may be obvious to some, but it seems way too sudden to find that my third child could already be in high school! Hello!

Jean Burk, author of College Prep Genius (as well as speaker and teacher of “Master the SAT” classes) uses a series of acronyms that help a student memorize the keys embedded with each section of the SAT and other tests. From writing a great essay in 15 minutes, to “how to eliminate two to three math answers right off the bat”, there are acronyms for every situation. It also includes college scholarship contest information with many helpful tips.

The amount of time I have to review this material is not sufficient enough to do a thorough litmus of all areas of SAT testing. So, I have decided that we will concentrate on one section, the Critical Reading Section, and work on memorizing the acronyms there (“USE”, for instance, stands for “Unquestionably Substitute Each answer choice in sentence”). We’ll give it the old college try (pun intended!) and I’ll report back in a couple of weeks on our progress.

In the mean time, if you are anxious to get your young adult started on the road to SAT success, check out the College Prep Genius website at www.collegeprepgenius.com where you can order the set (textbook, workbook and “Master the SAT Class” DVD) for $79. The website a great place to read some testimonials of students that have actually used the curriculum and had excellent results! Can you say “full ride scholarship”?

Cha-ching!

Review: Aleks Math Curriculum, a Very Complete Aproach to Math.

Math sans textbook? Could there be such a thing? Well, this is the computer age and as we move to a more “paperless” mode of operation in many realms of our lives (“so long” snail mail, “hello” making payments online!), it stands to reason that school subjects will do the same.

Enter Aleks Math. A complete math curriculum for ALL levels of math (including college level and business math) and not a single bulky textbook to be had! Aleks is a computer based program that uses an “artificial intelligence engine and adaptive questioning…” it “assesses a student's knowledge and delivers individualized instruction on the exact topics a student is most ready to learn. As a result, ALEKS targets gaps in student skills and enables immediate success in learning new material.” Aleks seems to have thought of everything. It is very user friendly and my kids really enjoyed it, much to my chagrin.

I am admittedly a textbook gal. Not because I like lugging around the textbooks but because the textbook is used much like a storybook; you start on the left side and keep going until you get to the right. Concepts are taught sequentially. I am told, “Here, do this.” Since math is really not my thing, I find security in the structure. Therefore, having a math curriculum completely online was pushing the envelope a bit, for me!

Well, since I am not the one actually doing the math, my computer-phobia is not the bottom line here. What did my kids think of Aleks? Other than the fact they had to do math during the summer (gasp!) in order to review the program; they loved it!

Beginning their math journey by taking an assessment test (which took around 30-45 minutes to complete), they enjoyed seeing their results in their own personal “pie”. Not the kind of “pi” that is divisible to the zillionth degree, but a colorful picture of a pie that represented what they know and what they need to know.

Each subject to be mastered for the year has a different portioned and colored “slice”. What they have mastered thus far is shown in a darker version of the color that slowly fills in the “slice” as they show understanding of the ideas. My kids (grades 6 and 9), really liked being able to choose the subject they were working on for the day. However, if they weren’t ready for a section, Aleks was smart enough to tell them they weren’t ready to work on that quite yet; there were other things to master first.

Furthermore, as the teacher I can easily look at their work and see what has been accomplished and what they need to concentrate on. Aleks also sends the teacher an email update on what each student is doing, how long they have worked and what they may need to focus on, among other summarized things.

Aleks is like having a tutor, trapped right their in your monitor! (That’s what I have secretly wanted to do to all of the brainy math-whiz sorts out there! Ha-ha!). Not sure what obtuse or acute means? Click on the word and an explanation, with examples, is given. Not sure how to use a particular formula? Click on the help button and watch a demonstration. Still can’t solve for the correct answer? Click on the “explain” button and see the entire problem worked for you. Afterward you can try and solve it yourself. Then keep working on similar ones to show mastery. A continual wrong answer will prompt a pop-up that says something like, “Let’s work on something else for awhile and come back to this later.” Which is a nice way of saying, “You are about to get really frustrated! Why don’t you take a break!”

This is math for the modern, computer savvy kids and, although “savvy” may be a stretch in describing my girls, they caught on quickly and really seem to really like it. At $179.95 per year with family discounts available, it is comparable to the cost of most math programs out there. Furthermore, you can get a free 48 hour trial through their website at www.aleks.com where you can also get a good feel for everything Aleks has to offer by clicking around on the bells and whistles that will help you get to know the plethora of material they offer. There’s even a special section dedicated to homeschoolers.

Personally, it was a bit too much information and too many choices for my non-math mind. I think because math doesn’t come naturally to me, it made me feel rather overwhelmed to have so many options. As I said, there is security in buying a book that says, “Start here” and then builds on each concept until you get to the end. However, that is a selfish reason not to consider using the Aleks program. Especially if your kids are motivated by doing math in such an innovative way! They are the ones that need to be excited to conquer math and do their work without pulling their/your hair out. I know that, though it may take me awhile to find my way around their website, eventually the familiarity and comfort level will change as I work the site regularly.

We already have our math program set for this year but Aleks is in strong contention for the year following. My kids have already expressed their desire to give Aleks a try and that ranks really high with this reviewer!