Did you ever wish you could help your kids see the "big picture" of what they're studying, and why?  Did you ever wish you could see that big picture yourself?  Now you can!  Lampstand Press has come up with a "Map of the Humanities" that puts it all together.  The separate paths of history, literature, fine arts, church history, government and philosophy all wind through world history from Creation to the present.  All the majortopics that are covered in the four-year cycle of Tapestry of Grace are presented in one map, perfect for any family that wants to survey the classics of world history from a Christian perspective.  Best of all--it's free!  Download your free copy today at http://tinyurl.com/MOTH1. Print it out or buy the full-sized poster at http://www.cafepress.com/lampstandpress.  Whether you use Tapestry of Grace or not, this is a not-to-be-missed resource for your homeschool.

Check out this video on Fox News about textbooks in the public schools. History books that repaint the picture of history and the role certain people played in it. Last summer I got to listen to a Tuskegee Airman who said the same thing. You can read about that here.

If you have one of these textbooks, I encourage you to send it in to the address at the end of the video. Be sure to leave us a comment of what you sent and why! If you have to, you can post about it on your blog and just leave a link to it in your comment.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

"The Call to Dunkirk" Urges Churches and Ministries to Help Parents Rescue Children from the Corrupt and Decaying Government Education System

Find out more about this challenge on Christian News Wire. At the very least, view, "The Call to Dunkirk," on YouTube.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

If you've been homeschooling for a few years, and get your hands on anything to do with homeschooling, somewhere along the way you have heard of Dr. Brain Ray. He's the president of NHERI or National Home Education Research Institute. If you want the stats on homeschooling you contact Dr. Ray.

The award is the 2009 Dr. Robert Dreyfus Courageous Christian Leadership Award. You can read more about why he won at Christian News Wire.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

A new children’s book is coming out soon; Gena was given a contract by another publisher recently. We are looking for a few folks to review the galley and give an endorsement/review. Contact Tia if you are interested.

Prizes include: College Scholarships and Free Critical Thinking Products. 


Seaside, California (October 1, 2008) – The Critical Thinking Company,
award-winning publisher of complete curriculum and supplemental educational
books, software and DVDs for all ages, announces The Critical Thinking
Company 50th Anniversary Essay Competition for middle and junior high school
students during the 2008-2009 academic year. The essay competition consists
of two separate topics each with a limit of 500 words. The first topic
challenges students to describe how they benefit in their everyday lives
from critical thinking educational materials published by The Critical
Thinking Company over the last 50 years. The second topic requires students
to imagine how their everyday lives, 50 years from now, will benefit from
strong critical thinking skills. Complete details for the competition can be
found below. 

50th Anniversary Essay Competition 
Part of The Critical Thinking Company's mission is to inspire a love of
thinking while developing important critical thinking skills. Our hope is
that the essay competition will inspire and encourage middle school students
to continue practicing higher order thinking in high school, college and
beyond. The essay competition asks middle school students to write an essay,
500 words or less, in response to one of the following topics: 

Topic #1 
Describe how you benefit today in everyday life due to The Critical Thinking
Company educational materials from the last 50 years. Utilize product
information, articles, and research material found on the
www.criticalthinking.com website, along with personal experience to outline
gains from critical thinking materials that are common place in everyday
life. 

Topic #2
Describe, 50 years from now, how your everyday life may benefit from strong
critical thinking skills. Utilize product information, articles, and
research material found on the www.criticalthinking.com website, along with
personal experience and your imagination to explain how your daily life will
be better, 50 years from now due to highly-developed reasoning skills. 

Students may submit two separate essays, each responding to a separate
topic, if they so choose. For specific details on entry requirements, see
the following sections. 

Due Dates: 
The Competition Opens on September 15, 2008 
Final Entry Is Due on or Before January 15, 2009

Winners will be notified on or after February 15th, 2009, depending on the
number of submissions. 

Eligibility
Any U.S. student enrolled in middle school, junior high school or home
school (under the age of 15) in the U.S. or its territories is eligible to
enter the competition for cash prizes. Non-U.S. citizens and students in
international locations can enter as well, but they are not eligible for
cash prizes. Free product and certificates will be awarded to each winner,
regardless of citizenship. 

A teacher, parent or guardian must sponsor each entry. This means that a
responsible adult must review and approve the student entry before it is
submitted to The Critical Thinking Company. The adult should also affirm
that the student did the research and writing themselves.  

Submission Requirements
Note: Student submissions shall be treated as being free of restrictions and
limitations on their use, reproduction and publication. 
Title page listing: Should list essay topic, student's name, school's name,
teacher's name, complete mailing address of school, type of school (private,
public or home school), grade level (6, 7, 8 or 9), and complete email and
phone contact information for student and teacher. 
All papers must be submitted digitally as MS Word or Adobe PDF documents.
Hard copies will be accepted but not preferred. 
Individual entries: No more than 500 words, typed, double-spaced, 12-pt.
font, one-side only, will be accepted. The 500 word limit requirement
excludes title page. 
Digital copies of file-size 5 megabytes or less should be sent via e-mail
attachment to ideas@criticalthinking.com. Subject line: The Critical
Thinking Company 50th Anniversary Essay Competition 
Please copy the information from your title page into the e-mail message. 

E-mail Submission Example:
To: ideas@criticalthinking.com
From: Name of sender
Subject line: The Critical Thinking Co. 50th Anniversary Essay Competition
Attached: Your essay attached as .doc or .PDF only
Body of message: Copy and paste your title page information into the body of
the e-mail. 
Do not put the essay itself into the body of the e-mail. 
For hard copies, please mail your entry to arrive no later than the due date
to:
The Critical Thinking Company 
50th Anniversary Essay Competition
PO BOX 1610
Seaside, C.A. 93955-1610 

Criteria for Evaluation
Each essay will be judged on its own merit by a group of educators and other
expert representatives. Award-level entries must be well written, thorough
and concise. Entries will be judged on how well students have focused their
essay, and how well they have addressed four basic criteria: Informed
Content*, Creativity and Imagination, Captivating and Inspirational, and
Writing Technique. 

Scores will be determined using the following guideline: 
Informed Content*, 30 points. 
Creativity and Imagination, 30 points. 
Essay is captivating and inspirational, 20 points. 
Organization and grammar of the essay, 20 points. 
*Informed content means that the students have educated themselves about the
products and the meaning of critical thinking, and the use of examples and
product information are accurate. 


ESSAY COMPETITION AWARDS
NOTE: ONLY U.S. CITIZENS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CASH PRIZES 

Each student that enters will receive a Participation Certificate from The
Critical Thinking Company. 

ELIGIBLE entries that receive the highest overall scores will receive
certificates, product and scholarships. 

The dollar amounts of prizes are subject to available funds. 

We expect to be able to make the following awards to the ELIGIBLE middle and
junior high school winners: 
First prize: $500 college scholarship and $100 in free product. 
Second prize: $300 college scholarship and $200 in free product. 
Third prize: $100 in free product. 
Each student that enters will receive a Participation Certificate. 


###


CONTACT INFO:

Nile Duppstadt - V.P. of Sales & Marketing
800-458-4849 x 109
niled@criticalthinking.com

Tim Sitar - Product and Assessment Specialist
800-458-4849 x 111
tims@criticalthinking.com

WEBSITE:  www.criticalthinking.com    
EMAIL: info@CriticalThinking.com    
PHONE: 800-458-4849


About The Critical Thinking Company 
Since 1958, The Critical Thinking Company has been a recognized leader in
teaching critical thinking skills. The company offers fun, easy-to-use
products that develop a wide-range of thinking skills and improve
standards-based learning in reading, writing, math, science, and history.
The company's award-winning books and software empower students with the
problem-solving skills needed for success in school and in life. The
Critical Thinking Company supplies educational materials to Sylvan Learning
Centers, Club Z In-Home Tutoring, leading U.S. public high schools, and
gifted & talented programs throughout the world. The Critical Thinking
Company guarantees better grades and higher test scores, or your money back.


The Critical Thinking Co. logos are trademarked or registered trademarks of
The Critical Thinking Co. Copyright © 2008 The Critical Thinking Co.
All Rights Reserved.

The Bigger, Better GWNews is almost here!

The New God's World News:

Coming September 2, 2008!

Bigger, better, more... all describe the new God's World News that arrives in September. Bigger, thicker issues, more in-depth articles, more Bible-based Christian perspective. All in monthly magazines designed to support and complement your curriculum and teaching goals.

Their designers, writers, and editors have been hard at work all summer to have the new magazines ready to go this fall and all that hard work will pay off beginning September 2nd!

Each subscription includes:

• 7 printed magazines + 1 bonus online issue

• Each magazine features a Triple-page cover poster or map for EVERY student

• 4 Full unit studies per issue – Multi-page Unit Studies from current events using Math, Language, Science, History, and more.

• Page increase - Lower editions (PreK – 3^rd grade) will double from last year’s pages! The upper editions (4^th – 9^th grade) will increase 27% from last year.

• Teacher’s Helper delivered by email or online. Will direct you to helpful online teaching resources in easy-view, easy-print format.

• No charge for regular shipping & handling! (first class delivery available)

God’s World News Monthly Magazines are available in 4 reading levels:

• Early Edition (PreK – Grade 1)

• Taking Off (Grades 2 and 3)

• News Current (Grades 4 and 5)

• Top Story (Grades 6 – 9)

Order THIS WEEKEND ONLY and receive a 20% discount (as listed below)

God’s World News offers several affordable pricing options, depending on the number of subscriptions sent to the same address:

$6.60 each—7 or more subscriptions of any of the GWNews editions (listed above) mailed to same address

$7.56 each—6 subscriptions

$8.76 each—5 subscriptions

$10.20 each—4 subscriptions

$11.00 each—3 subscriptions

$11.96 each—2 subscriptions

$17.56 each—1 subscription

The Old Schoolhouse readers can subscribe to this publication one of several ways:

• Go to www.gwnews.com/tos

• Call God’s World News at 800-951-5437 and refer to code N8EI1TOS.

Kristen Collier is working on a new book called "Obey Your Husband" with stories from couples who have an exceptional marriage.

If you've experienced the outrageous joy that comes when living a marriage God's way and would like to share your story with the world, then please e-mail Kristen your story as a Word attachment so she can directly copy it into the text. 

You can write whatever you'd like and as much as you'd like. 

If you would like more information about Kristen first you can visit her three blogs below. 

Kristen Collier
http://kristencollier.blogspot.com  

"Joy the Jellyfish"
http://www.joythejellyfish.blogspot.com  

The Colliers / Authors Page
http://www.collierauthors.blogspot.com

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB