Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
Yep, it's that time of year again--book reviews! Angela over at ByYouLove is hosting a Tuesday Book Review so I thought I'd get on board. Click the graphic to see more reviews of not only books, but other fun products, as well. And add your own reviews, too!
This summer, instead of only suggesting fun summer books, I'm going to snatch some of my product reviews from The Old Schoolhouse's product review list to give you some ideas to enrich next year's curriculum with some great books. Please don't ask me how I have time to review for TOS! But it is loads of fun and I get to pass on all of the great books I review to my DD, who is homeschooling her crew. Click here to browse hundreds of other reviews for great products for homeschoolers: The Old Homeschool Magazine Product Reviews
And have you joined up for the Splash program yet? Click the banner at the top of my blog to go there for all the details. There are only a couple of weeks left but you can still join the fun! You can win books every week.
Now, on to my first review of the summer, Junkman's Daughter:
310 North Main St., Ste 300
Chelsea, MI 48118
800-487-2323
While still in the old country, Hanna's father inspires his family with stories of America: "You will see, Hanna. There are streets of gold." Hanna can hardly wait to begin packing!
Junkman's Daughter tells the story of an immigrant family's journey to America in search of a better life. This 40-page, hardcover story-picture book is part of the Tales of Young Americans series--books that feature fictional kids in real-life stories from our nation's past. And what a story! Each page is filled with child-like delight as Hanna and her family get ready for their journey to United States--the only country where people can work hard and fulfill their dreams. Once in America, Hanna expects to see gold lying around for the taking. Reality sets in. Hard work begins. Discouragement causes Hanna to lose heart. But Hanna's parents never give up their dream of making a better life. When Hanna and her father stumble across a few old bottles buried in the snow, they seize the opportunity to collect "junk" and resell it. Through small steps and perseverance, the family makes their American dream come true.
Junkman's Daughter is a wonderful enrichment book for ages 4-10. It dovetails nicely into a study of immigration in the early 20th century and clearly shows the respect and awe immigrants had for the opportunity to make a better life for themselves in the United States. Hard work and family loyalty bring young Hanna from rags to riches by the time she is an adult. The illustrations by Guy Porfirio are exceptional and give readers a realistic picture of the times.
An added bonus, and one I appreciate as a homeschooling parent, is the free PDF file "Teacher's Guide" that Sleeping Bear Press provides on their website. The download for Junkman's Daughter includes 25 pages of creative activity sheets for varying grade levels, based on the book. I found subjects like grammar, math, creative writing, sequencing, and critical thinking. These would be great activities for a unit study on immigration.
I highly recommend this delightful book and curriculum activities for your homeschool. I would also recommend checking out the other titles from the Tales of Young Americans series.
Product review by Susan K. Marlow, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, November 2007
By Your Love is having a contest to win a $39.00 Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Now that's a pricey contest and well worth entering! Click the graphic to head over to By Your Love's blog to check it out. As a "sneak peek" here is part of her review:
"The first word out of my mouth as I opened my planner was WOW! I heard how great this was but I don't think I realized how great it could have been until I saw it. It is AWESOME! This planner is by far the greatest one I have ever seen!
This planner is an ebook. The great thing about that is you can print off what you want and leave what you don't, the cover would be great to print off and put in a 3 ring notebook and you could put the rest of the book inside and have a great planner for school time. It has 247 pages in it, it's also interactive so you can work on the pages in your computer and print them off, wow-thats great."
Happy Monday to everyone! As far as my Exercise Challenge (see right sidebar) I've been a good girl. I am now packing around 8# of weights in my vest and going 2 miles. I also hop on my bike and ride 5 miles (on sunny days), so I'm feeling pretty good about my progress.
Click the graphic for more S&Ts from Mary!
It's a "birthday" theme for Show and Tell this week! The closest I can come to joining in the fun with that is the fact that this month is my young homeschooling friend's 21st birthday! To honor her (but mostly because it happened to work out that way) I am going to post a picture of the two-page spread the July issue of Focus on the Family's Brio Magazine printed. So, with no further ado, Happy Birthday, Jessica! Brio did a nice job with the article she (and I) wrote over a year ago (these things take time to get published). Jessica, at 16 years old, portrayed my main character, Andi, a 12-year-old. Another trivia fact: Jessica was the first youngster to read my Andi stories, so it seems fitting that she should be on the cover.
Happy Birthday, Jessica!
It's probably best that the print is too small to read. I'd no doubt get in real trouble for posting this otherwise. As it is, it's an advertisement for Brio, so how can they object to that? Go on over to your local Christian bookstore and pick up a copy if you'd like to know what the article says.
Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by Tiany. Click her name to visit other WWs.
My daughter-in-law caught these magnificent photos of our recent (and very rare) thunder storm on Sunday. People sat outside (under eaves, of course!) and watched this mighty display. Usually it just rains in Western Washington.
Last night we in the Pacific NW had a terrific thunder storm. A real whopper! Well....actually...compared to the Kansas thunder storms I've been in and the No. Carolina storms, ours was....not a whopper after all. But to US, it was so beautiful. And it lasted a long time, too (longer than 10 minutes). There was sheet lightning that lit up the entire eastern sky and zig-zag lightning, and then the wind blew like crazy and the rain began to fall.
But what struck me as funny was the fact that DH, DS, and I all went outside and stood under the eaves to watch it. We couldn't wait to see another lightning bolt! It's funny because I think in the Mid-West when the thunder storms begin, folks head indoors, not outdoors. We so rarely get a thunder storm that everybody goes out to watch it. I know. A little weird. But so was the 95 degree temperatures on Saturday and Sunday. That storm was welcomed and now it's in the 70s. (See my new little widget-temperature-flag in the sidebar).
I was just wishing that the rain that always falls sooner or later around here could fall in California instead, to put out those horrible fires that are everywhere.
Yikes! Show and Tell Friday creeps up on a person during the summer, doesn't it?
Visit Mary (AKA Canada girl) for more S&Ts!
OK, this is desperation. I just put together a book trailer for my first book, Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home. Yes, I know the book came out in 2005, but I didn't know anything about book trailers in those days. Then I figured it out in time to do trailers for the rest of the books. I'm not quite ready to unveil the book trailer for the upcoming book, San Francisco Smugglers, but please....somebody watch this book trailer! They take a long time to make, and although both my sons Andrew and Chad think the music is a little corny, I like it, as it is real country and light and for...kids! So, here you go. (I LOVE the Homeschool Lounge's video hosting feature. They do a much, much better job making the graphics nice than YouTube, which makes the trailer fuzzy. Enjoy!
Do you want to put this trailer on your blog? Here is a code for your sidebar that makes it small--just the right size! (make sure you use the "select all" feature.)
Click on the cover for more reviews from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
It's time for a book review! I keep telling myself that I'm going to recommend some books for school next year, but who wants to think about school right now? At any rate, as a reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, I have a great opportunity to pass along some reviews on my blog (this helps when I'm fresh out of blogging ideas!). Here is a review of a novel I wish I'd had for my boys when we were studying U.S. History a number of years back. Books like this make the history part seem more real. So here we go....
Towpath Adventures by Jack and Judith Woods (click cover to go to their website).
The past comes alive on the Erie Canal in Towpath Adventures. Twelve-year-old Jonathan Hamilton is a likeable main character who spends his summer managing mules, canal boats, cargo, and even escaped slaves in this 136-page historical fiction novel for middle-grade readers.
Set in central New York State during the early days of the Erie Canal, the story finds Jonathan at odds with his stepmother and unhappy at the news that his best friend is moving away. On the heels of this comes the announcement that his father, a blacksmith, has decided to ship Jonathan off to spend the summer with his Uncle James, a canal-boat owner who has recently lost his wife. James needs Jonathan to drive the mules along the towpath as they pull the shipment of cargo along the Erie Canal. In the course of the story, Jonathan acquires a new friend, Charles, and is unexpectedly drawn into the Underground Railroad.
Towpath Adventures is a lively read, and the historical details of life along the Erie Canal are impressive. A short glossary at the back of the book explains words that might be unfamiliar to modern-day readers. For example, a "drummer" is a traveling salesman. And have you ever wondered what a "conch horn" is? Or a "towpath"? Readers follow Jonathan as he and his uncle prepare the boat for its canal journey, load up, and begin the trip. Adventures await the crew of the Deliverance at every stop along the way. Seamlessly woven into the narrative are actual historical characters.
This book would be an excellent addition to a unit study on the Erie Canal. I wish I'd had this novel for my boys when we were studying that era of U.S. history. Towpath Adventures works well as a read-for-fun book also. The gospel is presented in a natural, non-intrusive way.
I highly recommend Towpath Adventures, especially for that hard-to-interest group of readers--our boys.
Product review by Susan K. Marlow, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, January 2008.
Saved Girl has started a Hymn Monday, where folks can include their favorite hymns and tell a little about them. I'm going to combine this with a quick review of my "source" for information about all our "old favorites." But first, one of my old favorites: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." I remember singing this hymn over and over again as a child. In the "olden" days we didn't have Scripture songs or many Praise songs. It was mostly hymns and a few Singspiration choruses like "Deep and Wide" or "Gone, Gone, Gone, Gone, Yes, My Sins Are Gone." Here's a little bit of history about "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."
It was written by a man named Joseph Scriven in 1857, and wasn't considered all that great in literary writing. But its simple truths have brought comfort to countless people since its inclusion in Ira Sankey's Sankey's Gospel Hymns Number One. (Ira Sankey was the music leader for D.L. Moody's preaching trips).
Joseph Scriven lived by the Sermon on the Mount his whole life. He was from a rich family but spent his life working for those who could not pay. His fiance drowned the night before their wedding, and perhaps this set the course for the remainder of his life. He gave even the clothes from his back to the needy, depending on God for his own needs.
Joseph never intended "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" to be published. He'd heard about his mother's illness (in far-off Dublin, Ireland), and since he couldn't go to her, he wrote the words of the song (poem) in a letter. Later, a visiting friend found the words on scratch paper near the bed of the now-ill Joseph. It was published in a small collection of his poems.
Incredibly, Joseph Scriven also died in an accidental drowning. Ira Sankey discovered the poem in 1875, just in time for it to be on the very last page of his Gospel Hymns. Later, Ira wrote, "The last hymn which went into the book became one of the first in favor."
Would you like to learn more about the history of many of our Christian hymns? Kregel Publications publishes books like the one I gleaned the above information from. 101 Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck is a wonderful source for learning about the godly men and women who wrote dozens and dozens of the songs we love most. Click on the cover to learn more!
There is also another book, 101 More Hymn Stories.
I found the entire 45 minute message on a friends' blog, but here is an excerpt with pictures and music. I watched it, mesmerized, and I had no clue who this person was who was preaching. But the words rang true--if not more than a bit shocking. If this excerpt piques your interest, go to the HeartCry Missionary Society website to see the entire "shocking" message. Are you courageous enough to hear it and respond to the challenge? No matter what, you will never think the same again after hearing the full sermon: HeartCry Missionary Society website
