Okay, so I used to buy Evan-Moor products now and then when I was teaching in the public school.  They were pretty good, but nothing to write home about.  But now, WOW! WOW! WOW!  I love the three books that just arrived!  (And wish I had lots more money to buy several more.  Hee Hee.)

Long story short:  I had major problems with an online download program they were offering.  I cancelled my subscription and nicely told them why.  Lo and behold, a few weeks later a $50.00 gift certificate shows up in my mailbox!!  Yes, that's awesome.  Yes, that gave me great respect for their company.  No, it didn't influence my book review. 

So, I get on their site to place an order and find that they have all their products loaded into Applet Reader.  (I think I spelled that right.)  In other words, you can look at every page of every book you're interested in!  That's part of the reason I KNEW I wasn't just going to turn around and resell these on VegSource.

What did I order???  History Pockets: Acient Civilizations, Thinking Skills Grades 5&6, and Easy File Folder Reports.  Have I already mentioned that I LOVE these???

History Pockets teaches the main ancient civilizations in mini-units.  They give you all the info and activities.  (You can supplement with library books.)  At the completion of each mini-unit, you put all the work into a file folder that is made from large construction paper.  At the end of the unit, you put together each of the folders into a book of sorts.  All the work from the unit is together and organized.  This really appeals to my lapbooking/notebooking style!

Thinking Skills is chock full of fun and intriguing logic and thinking exercises.  I add lots of these sorts of activities to our math time, and this book is perfect for us!  I may have to buy the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th books, too.  Oh yeah, it came with a computer cd that allows you as the teacher to demonstrate how to think about the problems before letting your child loose with them.  All of the workbook pages are in ebook format on the cd, too.  That makes it so much easier to copy for my daughter.

Easy File Folder Reports is another book that appeals to my lapbook/notebook style.  Tons and tons of research topics are supplied with pre-made pages for your child to fill in with the information they find.  The research pages are then put into file folders that make a beautifully presented final product.  The pages are fun enough to entice my daughter (who doesn't prefer to write) and get her writing in spite of herself!   

You can find all sorts of neat products at www.evan-moor.com

Just in case you're wondering - I have no affiliation with Evan-Moor! 

Wow!  That's the best word I can think of to describe this book.  Since baby is on his way any day now, we didn't read through Jotham's Journey the way you're "supposed" to.  We began the first of December and read one, two or three chapters a day until we finished.  I have to admit that it would have been hard for even *me* to read one chapter a day because they are so exciting and leave you wanting more.  We also didn't do the Advent candles with the book, simply because we weren't following the daily reading schedule. 

I highly recommend this book!  One caution, though, it is intense at times and some little ones may find it to be too scary.  My 6 1/2 year old listened intently and loved the book, but would ask many questions about the story throughout the day if we ended our daily reading time with an especially serious cliff-hanger.

The author is a master storyteller and weaved such an interesting story line that it often left me with my mouth open in awe of his creativity in tying together the story of our Savior's birth with the story of the main character.  He also did a wonderful job of allowing the main character to grow in wisdom and stature as we watched.  I especially loved the "main message" of how our disobedience has consequences, and I was glad to see that Jotham recognized this and tried harder each time to be more obedient.

Sadly, this book, as well as the other two in the series - Tabitha's Travels and Bartholemew's Passage (I think I have those titles right) are no longer in print.  From what I understand, the author is trying to find a new publisher.  Maybe we can all bombard Purple House Press with a request to reprint these??  Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on the other two books in the series!