REVIEW: 25 Truths book from Ed Douglas Publications

As I raise my children, I try to set a good example for them as one who claims to be a follower of Christ. I am more successful in some areas than in others, of course. Because we homeschool, they have walked with me through nearly every day, good and bad, and have seen how I've dealt with difficult situations and people. Sometimes we talk about what has happened, because I want them to understand why I handled a particular scenario as I did, or how I could have done better. I tend to lecture, to talk too much, in an effort to illustrate my point, particularly if I feel passionately about an issue. I was recently given the opportunity to review the book 25 Truths from Ed Douglas Publications through the Schoolhouse Crew, and was pleased to find some assistance in keeping the lectures short, along with ways to engage my children in discussion.

Ed Douglas retired in 2006 from being Chairman and CEO of Citizens Bancshare Bank, and now owns Ed Douglas Certified Financial Planning/Consulting. 25 Truths is his 3rd book. He gives financial seminars for adults and also speaks to students on financial issues. He's been appointed to statewide positions in the state of Missouri. He serves on boards and would be considered Important. He's the kind of guy who has the credentials to speak about how to be successful. (You can read his bio here.) He is also married, the father of three grown children, and a Christian. He has made his faith and his family priorities in his life, which means he's made some very different choices than many of the "successful" people you see on the news.

This book, 25 Truths, began as a list of life principles Mr. Douglas had put together and would share with family and friends. The list evolved into this book. Each truth is presented with a corresponding Bible verse or quote, along with a short reading, usually including a story from Mr. Douglas's experiences. Following each one is a summary, in which the chapter's principle is reworded and perhaps clarified a bit, and then the Workshop, which includes questions to encourage thoughtfulness and discussion.

When my girls and I went through this book together, we read one principle each day. Their responses were so interesting! From the very first truth - "Protect Your Reputation" - we had great discussions. They didn't think they had reputations at this stage of their lives (they are 12 and 13). As we talked about it, though, they were able to see that even as young as they are, they have reputations within our extended family, our church, and the groups in which they participate (choir, ballet, gymnastics, etc.). They could also see how easy it is to lose a good reputation, and how important it is to protect one's good name.

This book provides great material to spark conversation. Mr. Douglas has put a great deal of thought into articulating these principles in a clear, succinct way, making them easy to share and discuss. I enjoyed talking with my girls over the different points. There are some that were great reminders for me:

#11 - Take one step at a time

#13 - Make every day your best day

#14 - See the glass as half full

My very favorite? This one:

#21 - Get as much education as possible

Charlotte Mason put it like this: "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." In other words, we should all strive to be lifelong learners. (There is a great post on Charlotte Mason and the idea of character training here - in case you're interested.)

It's suggested that this book is best for grades 6-12, and I think that's pretty accurate. As I went through the book with my girls, I saw them making connections with the principles - in many cases, these were things they already knew on some level, but the simple phrases allowed us to bring them to the forefront for more careful consideration. This book would be a great tool for a youth group or college Bible study, or any group, really. Mr. Douglas mentioned using it with the high school tennis team he coached, and I thought that sounded like a perfect venue.

If the book were to be reprinted, I'd love to see more careful editing - I noticed several typos throughout, and thought the writing could be smoothed out in some places. Overall, though, this is an excellent way to spark conversation on some basic life principles with people at almost any stage of life, whether they are learning what it means to live life to the fullest, or perhaps need to be reminded.

You can purchase 25 Truths for $12.50 from the 25 Truths website.

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In Need of Hide-and-Seek Training

Isaac loves it when his Daddy is home on the weekends. He helps with whatever Todd might be doing, from laundry to house projects. He loves it best, though when Daddy can PLAY.

This afternoon, Isaac convinced Todd to play hide-and-seek. First, Todd hid behind the loveseat in the living room. When Isaac came in to find him, he looked (I thought) behind the loveseat from the left side, didn't see him, and went searching through the rest of the house. He finally came back down to the living room and looked behind the loveseat from the other side, and found Todd. Isaac cackled with triumphant glee, which sent me into fits of giggles.

Then it was Isaac's turn to hide. Todd sat with me on the couch while Isaac began searching for his hiding spot. He chose to crawl underneath the dining room table. I heard him say to his sister in the kitchen, "Don't tell Dad where I'm hiding, Abbie!" Our downstairs goes in one big circle and you can  hear each other from anywhere on the first floor. The silly boy didn't even whisper! Todd, Abbie and I were all quite entertained by this. Todd called out to Isaac, "Are you ready for me to come and find you?" Isaac replied with a cheerful "Yep!"

Hiding in the dog's crate

After Todd took his turn hiding and was found, Isaac went in search of another hiding spot. Apparently Daddy was taking too long, though, because he came out of hiding (behind the loveseat), went upstairs and asked Todd why he wasn't seeking. Todd told Isaac to come back down and hide, gave him a 10-count, and then found him trying to hide behind his train table, which sits out in the middle of the floor.

Then it was Todd's turn, and he high-tailed it upstairs to hide. Isaac giggled loudly when he found Daddy again, and then said, "OK! My turn!" and began to count, "One, two, three,"  then remembered he was supposed to be hiding - "Oh, wait!" -  and ran off.

The last time Todd hid, he covered himself with an afghan next to me on the couch. Subtle, right? Isaac did look around for a bit before he noticed the giant blue-and-yellow giggling lump, though. He said, "Oh, what is that big lump on the couch? I think I'll check it out. Hello, Fodder!"

Best quote of the day: "PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" when Isaac found Todd in the office. :-D

Isaac doesn't quite get the concept of hiding. At least, he doesn't seem to understand how not to give himself away. He counted, loudly, for Todd several times to make sure Daddy "sought" in a timely fashion. He will figure it out eventually, but he provides us with a lot of entertainment in the meantime. What a great afternoon activity for this rainy day!

REVIEW - "Tunnel of Gold" from Susan K. Marlow and Kreger Publications

I was recently asked to review Tunnel of Gold from Susan K. Marlow and Kreger Publications, the second book in Ms. Marlow's Goldtown Books. I know very little about the Gold Rush era, and I love books, so was eager to see what I thought of this series. Last year for my girls' birthdays, we went gold mining in the North Carolina mountains with my parents, and it was a lot of fun - as well as hard work!

Susan Marlow began writing stories at the age of 10, and has published several children's books, from early readers to chapter books. She has visited gold mining sites and even done some panning of her own. Her knowledge comes through in the story; you feel as though you're with Jem, Ellie, and Nathan in their town as they face the possibility of the mine closing down, which would leave their town as a ghost town.

The Goldtown Adventure books are written for ages 8-12. They're not very long; Tunnel of Gold, 2nd in the series, has 144 pages and 18 chapters. We were able to read 2 chapters per day without anyone complaining. This was a great read-aloud! Every chapter makes you want to read the next one to see what's going to happen. Even my 5 year old  boy, who usually wanders off to do something else while I'm reading "long books," stayed and listened, and asked if we were going to read it again tomorrow. You can click here for a PDF sample of the book. We didn't need the first book to make sense of this one, although after reading this one, we want to go back and read the first story, too.

I liked Jem's character very much. He is the oldest of two children, and now has his cousin Nathan living with him. Although he's not above some teasing, he does his best to set a good example, to be kind to others, to think before he speaks. He wasn't perfect, but he showed regret when he knew he'd done something wrong. I'd say he's a typical young man who lacks judgement and learns the hard way sometimes, but he *did* learn from his mistakes. He had great respect for his father, and was respectful to other adults, whether he liked them or not. He had to make some tough decisions in this book. He stood up to bullies and protected his Chinese friend, even when the odds were against him. He stopped selling firewood to his best customer, as his way of supporting his father in an issue involving the mine, knowing he would lose most of his income.

Ms. Marlow offeres some nice resources to go along with these books on her site. There is a free study guide for Tunnel of Gold available, including a timeline of the Gold Rush, a recipe for Cook's donuts, historical information and more  - click here for the PDF. She also has lapbooks available for purchase; click here if you'd like to take a look.

Tunnel of Gold is available from Susan K. Marlow and Kreger Publications for $7.99. You may also purchase both books in the series for $13.99 and save a little money. She has two other series of books available: Circle C Adventures, for ages 8-12, and Circle C Beginnings, early readers for ages 6-9.

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Sweet Summertime

I've seen lots of posts lately about what people do to keep their children busy during the summer. Since kids who go to school are done for the year, and most homeschoolers try to finish up their curriculum and have summers off too, there are lots of great ideas out there for fun activities you can enjoy with your children.

Here's the thing though - I just spent the entire school year driving my children hither and yon to activities, usually 5 days per week. We were busy ALL THE TIME. I'm really OK with just hanging around home for the most part, especially because it's so hot here in North Carolina. Also, we do go on vacation, so it's not like we do NOTHING.

We make our own fun, though. We have had a lot of rain over the last few weeks, and the kids have been having fun dancing in it. Even Grandma got in on the action when she was visiting, and Todd's always open to running amok with the kids:

Don't you love Isaac's rain outfit?

We've also been watching the butterflies on our butterfly bush by the front porch:

I know we have a tiger swallowtail (upper left) and a black swallowtail (lower right). I *think* the one in the lower left corner is a hoary edge. This one's pretty rough looking, but it is the only picture I found that comes close to what it looks like. It also kept its wings determinedly together while I was getting the picture, so I don't know what it looks like when it spreads them. The one in the upper right corner? No idea. I thought it was a Painted Lady or perhaps an American Lady, but it doesn't look like the pictures I found. If you know, would you tell me? 

I felt inspired, looking through pictures of butterflies we might find in North Carolina, to start paying more attention to the ones we see and start keeping a record. I might also try to plant more flowers to attract them, after reading about what different types of butterflies like to eat. That might be a project for fall, getting some new plants to attract butterflies, and then seeing what we get in the spring.

Isaac chose three tomato plants at the grocery store this summer, and he's been taking excellent care of them. This week, we had our first ripe grape tomatoes! He was delighted. We only had five, so Isaac got two and the girls and I each had one (Daddy doesn't like tomatoes, so we didn't save one for him) and they were delicious. There's quite a difference between home-grown tomatoes and store-bought, yes?

The girls entertained themselves one afternoon by trying to color Isaac's hair blue using sidewalk chalk:

Note they didn't want to color their own hair. Good thing their brother is pretty easy going when it comes to playing with his sisters!

So, we're not entirely bored around here. Somewhere, I have a nifty little book, sent to me by my friend Jenn, called something like, 101 things to do to be the most fun mom ever, or something like that. There were some neat ideas in there, so if I can find that, I'd like to try some. We also have some cool art projects coming up. And last, but not least, my darling girls are still finishing up their school work!

What are your favorite summertime things to do? I will post more, if I find anything especially fun, and simple. (Simple is good. I can do simple.)

REVIEW - Prescripts Cursive Passages and Illuminations

Classical Conversations is an organization that helps train parents to provide their children with a Christian, classical education. There is a large network of communities that meet weekly during the school year, in 35 states and 5 countries. Founded by Leigh Bortins in 1997, the program has grown from 11 students to over 36,000. The curriculum covers history/timeline, Bible, English grammar, Latin, science, geography, and math. They have recently released their Prescripts series, including 4 handwriting books, designed to coordinate with their curriculum and reinforce memory work. The books combine cursive writing with art instruction, and encourage students to be more artistic in their writing, and make it easy for homeschoolers to integrate art instruction into their homeschool day.

For the purpose of this review, we received the  Prescripts Cursive Passages and Illuminations book,  intended for ages 9 and up (click here for a PDF sample). It's a nice, spiral-bound book, which allows the student to open it flat and work comfortably. If a student were working on cursive mastery, they could trace over the cursive lettering in the book. Otherwise, they can copy the passages into their own notebook. The copywork passages are taken from Classical Conversations' Words Aptly Spoken: American Documents book, which is a supplement to their Cycle 3. There are 67 lessons in the book, each with one page of copywork and one illuminated letter to draw. If you were to assign one page per day, you'd have plenty of work for your school year, working 4-5 days per week.

The art lessons in this book are centered around illumination, such as you might see in Medieval manuscripts. The students can copy the illuminated letters in the space provided in their copybook, or draw them onto their own sheet of paper. The illuminated letters require attention to detail, and assume some drawing skills, I would think. I confess, I'm a little confused why illumination was the choice for art in a book of copywork taken from American history documents, but they are lovely, and there is some good information about the art of illumination and suggested resources for further research on the topic if students would like to pursue it.

I gave the book to my daughter Abbie, who is 12. She loves to draw, and doesn't mind copywork. She chose to write the passages in a separate notebook, and drew the illuminated letters in the Passages book.

She did a beautiful job, didn't she? She chose to make some of her own illuminations, rather than simply copying each time:

These are lovely copybooks. I am an instant fan of anything that puts copywork all together in one place! Also, having art lessons that are easily available for children to do in the same book is VERY convenient. I am guilty of letting art instruction fall by the wayside, because I'm not all that comfortable with it and there always seems to be something "more important" to do.

Some things to note:

• The Prescripts series teaches cursive writing; children will not learn printing.
• The first three books in the series are consumable; the fourth can be used either as a consumable or non-consumable book. 
• The first and third books in the series relate to the Classical Acts & Facts history cards from Classical Conversations' Cycle 2, which covers medieval to modern history; however, they are not necessary to use the books.

Each book in the series is available from Classical Conversations. The first book in the series, Cursive Letters and Coloring, is $11.99; the other three books are available for $12.99. Although they are intended to coordinate with and reinforce memory work with the Classical Conversations program, they would be nice copy books for any child to use. (Perhaps another day, we will discuss why it's beneficial for children to learn cursive writing first.)

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REVIEW - Teaching the Classics

As much as I love to read, I have never felt comfortable with literary analysis. I have vague recollections of my high school English teacher, Ms. Nye, teaching us about symbolism in Macbeth, and I still have a paper I wrote about it (which I remember as being fabulous, but really isn't). In college, I took a "Great Books" class as a requirement for graduating with honors, and I sat in lectures, took notes, and regurgitated the professor's viewpoint into papers. If I could find a way to include women and/or minorities, I got an "A." I took a poetry class, too, and didn't leave there feeling as if I had any more of a clue than when I started. It's amazing how one can write papers without knowing anything about the topic, and still pass.

I was excited, therefore, to have the opportunity to review Teaching the Classics from Institute of Excellence in Writing. This program was developed by Adam and Missy Andrews, after they began homeschooling their six children and found that the literature curriculum scene was primarily dominated by workbooks. After working to pull material together for their own family, and at the urging of some homeschool friends, they combined their knowledge (he has a degree in history; she in English literature) and love of literature into a program they could use to teach their own children, and would allow other homeschoolers to do so. They did not want to add another thing to the load of a homeschool parent that would require starting from scratch - we've all been there, yes? Rather, this program enhances what we do as we teach our students how to think more deeply about what they're reading. For the purpose of this review, I received the Teaching the Classics program, which includes a set of 4 DVDs (around 6.5 hours of video) and a spiral-bound workbook (extra workbooks are available). Although the course is directed at teachers, I think older students might enjoy watching the videos as well. 

Teaching the Classics uses the Socratic Method to teach literary analysis. The Socratic approach, named after the Greek philosopher Socrates, involves asking questions and engaging in discussion with students, in order to stimulate critical thinking. The questions increase in difficulty, and are organized according to the classical stages of learning - grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. The course includes an introduction - "Why Literature?" - and 5 lessons, with a practicum at the end to practice all you've learned. Each lesson uses great literature to illustrate the concepts discussed:

• Preparing for Literary Analysis - Paul Revere's Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Plot and Conflict - The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
• Setting - Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling
• Character - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
• Theme - Martin the Cobbler, Leo Tolstoy
• Practicum - Casey at the Bat, Earnest Lawrence Thayer

The workbook also includes a blank copy of the fabulous "story chart,"which identifies conflict and breaks out the plot of a story; a scope and sequence for the curriculum and suggested lesson plans; and appendices including the Socractic list of questions, reading lists for every age, and a glossary of literary terms. The one minor issue is, since the recordings were done at a live seminar, the audio varies in volume sometimes. I found this much less distracting when I watched it on the computer in my office, instead of trying to watch on our television. I'd also love to see an audio recording of the course. The videos are great, but I'd love to be able to move around a little more while listening, particularly as I review the material in the future.

Adam Andrews is an engaging speaker, and his passion for literature is infectious. I thoroughly enjoyed his lectures. He made literary analysis fun - something I thought impossible to achieve. He did an excellent reading of Paul Revere's Ride in the first lesson. I was ready to hang my American flag and sing "God Bless America" when he finished. He explained literary devices (onomatopoeia, assonance, alliteration, imagery, allusion, symbolism) and helped find them in the poem.  Now, I had read Paul Revere's Ride before, but I didn't know much about its context. Mr. Andrews defined context as the history of the time in which a piece was written, and personal history of the author. He shared three things about Longfellow, which he stated were easy things to learn:

1. He was an American poet who lived in New England, from 1807-1882.
2. He was fantastically famous in his own lifetime; when he spoke, he knew the nation was listening. He was a staunch Unionist.
3. Paul Revere's ride appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in January of 1861, shortly after Lincoln was elected to the Presidency solely by the Northern states, and 7 of 11 states had already seceded from the Union.

Can you see how just knowing those three facts add an entirely new dimension to the poem? The information is easy to come by, which means you don't have to be a Longfellow biographer to find it. With little Googling, and a couple of good books, you can present excellent information to your students that will broaden their understanding of what they're reading. I've learned quite a bit about the significance of context in pursuit of a Charlotte Mason education for my children, and that one lesson clarified for me how important it really is, to know the context of a work. It helps students connect with what they're reading on a much deeper level.

Mr. Andrews is quite convincing as he encourages people to start teaching literary analysis even to young children. The premise is that if you teach them basic things early on, they will have a much easier time with more complex literary analysis as they get older. That is the one of the basic tenets of classical education - hanging knowledge on "pegs" for building of future skills. For example, Mr. Andrews stated that learning to recognize onomatopoeia would help a child learn to recognize symbolism more easily in the future. He suggests beginning with children's books and students as young as 8 or 9.

I'm not sure how I feel about starting with students that young. Children should be allowed to make their own connections with stories they read, and if I'm perfectly honest, it seems like it would take all the fun right out of reading about Peter Rabbit's escape from Mr. MacGregor's garden if I had to discuss conflict and plot with a young child. However, I think my girls (going into 7th and 8th grade) are ready for this kind of information, and as Mr. Andrews showed us so well in the course, children's books like The Tale of Peter Rabbit are a wonderful place to start because the concepts are so easily pulled from the stories.

After years of feeling like a literary goob, I have learned tools to teach my children about literary analysis! It's a great feeling. I plan to pull together books from the lists provided in Teaching the Classics and start working on them with my girls, perhaps once a week or so. I will go gently, because I do not want to tell them what to think about a story; I want to give them tools and vocabulary to discover more for themselves in what they read. I'm not sure how far we'll take it, but I am looking forward to introducing them to the vocabulary and ideas.

Teaching the Classics is available from the Institute for Excellence in Writing for $89.00. This is an excellent course to show anyone how to teach literary analysis. 

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Ragamuffin - A Movie About Rich Mullins

There is something about music that moves us, stirs our souls, and inspires us. There are so many different kinds of music, surely everyone can find something that connects with them.

One of my favorite Christian artists is Rich Mullins. His music is real, challenging, and inspiring. His songs talk about issues that affect every Christian. He does not mince words, or try to hide behind his own spirituality - he shared openly about his own life in his music. Here is the video for my favorite song of his, and in fact probably my favorite song of all time, "Hold Me Jesus":

Here's one more, that I sing to myself often:

Let mercy lead, let love be the strength in your legs

And with every footprint that you leave

There'll be a drop of grace

If we can reach beyond the wisdom of this age

Into the foolishness of God, that foolishness will save

Those who believe

And though their foolish hearts will break, they will find peace

And I'll meet you in that place where mercy leads

-Let Mercy Lead, Rich Mullins

Unfortunately, he passed away in September of 1997, as the result of a car accident. He was only 42. His music lives on, though, and we listen to it often in our house. Everyone likes it, from my husband down to my 5-year-old. If you haven't heard him before, I recommend checking out his "Songs" album, which is a compilation of his "greatest hits." You can find it on Amazon, or on iTunes. I believe you will be blessed.

There is also a wonderful book by Brennan Manning called The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up and Burned Out. Brennan Manning was a Franciscan priest, and his calling was to "help sinners journey from self-hatred to self acceptance" (link to article on Brennan Manning, who passed away in April). He inspired Rich to a deeper relationship with God. This is a book worth reading. I'm reading it myself right now. Would you like to join me?

I just learned today that there is a movie about Rich Mullins! I can't wait to see it. Check out the website here; you can also find it on Facebook and Twitter. Here is a preview:

OK. I'll stop now. My heart overflows when I listen to his music - I can't quite find the words to express that to you, but I hope you will explore it for yourself.

Fun in Florida - Journey In Concert!

I confess that this post has nothing to do with homeschooling or books. Just thought I'd let you know up front!

I had the opportunity to accompany my husband, Todd, to Orlando, Florida this week, where he is attending a conference for work. I don't normally come to these things, but this time, Journey was going to be playing at the customer appreciation event, and they are one of my all-time favorite bands. I saw them in concert when Steve Perry was still with them. It was their "Raised On Radio" tour, October 1987, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. We shall not discuss how old I was, 'kay? I love going to rock concerts; it's one of my favorite things to do. Too bad it's a rather expensive hobby because I'd definitely go more often!

Here are Todd and I with our Cisco Live hats on:

Steve Perry was the original lead singer for Journey. (They didn't start out with a vocalist - they got one because they needed one to get a record deal back in the day.)  He has an amazing voice. Truly, there is no one else who can sing like he does. I have had a hard time accepting new lead singers with the band since he left, and haven't listened to much of their music since then, to be honest. I must confess I was pleasantly surprised tonight. Arnel Pineda is the current lead singer, and has been with the band since 2006. He's from the Phillipines. It is truly amazing how much he sounds like Steve Perry. They were looking for a replacement voice for a long time, and they finally found one. It's really hard to tell it's not Steve Perry, if you're not looking at Arnel. It's kinda funny, actually, how young and energetic he is, next to those "experienced" musicians. Ha!

Arnel Pineda:

Neil Schohn:

They played all old stuff tonight, and I was glad. I did download their latest album today so I would be prepared, but they didn't sing anything from it. That was fine with me, because I love to sing along at concerts and I knew all the words tonight. Here is the set list:

Only the Young
Who's Cryin' Now
Separate Ways
Stone in Love
(Neil Schohn played the National Anthem)
Edge of the Blade
Lights
(Jonathan Cain piano solo)
Open Arms
Escape
Dead or Alive
(More Neil Schohn)
Wheel in the Sky
Faithfully
Be Good to Yourself
Don't Stop Believin'
Encore: Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

Sing along with me now: Na na nana na na, nana nana na....

REVIEW: "Lily" Books from Baker Publishing

By now, you know that I love books - living books. I'm always excited to review books with potential, so I signed up, gleefully I might add, to review Life with Lily (PDF excerpt) and A New Home for Lily (PDF excerpt) by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher, from Baker Publishing Group. They are good-sized paperback books, about 250 pages, with glossy covers.

Mary Ann Kinsinger grew up in an Amish community, and now blogs at A Joyful Chaos about her  journey after leaving the Amish community. Suzanne Woods Fisher has written several books about the Amish, both fiction and non-fiction. Her interest was sparked by her grandfather, who was raised Amish in Pennsylvania.
These are some lovely books about the life of a little Amish girl. They remind me of the Little House on the Prairie books, except in the setting of an Amish community. They are written from the perspective of Lily, who is 6 when the first book begins, so the language is quite simple. They are written for children ages 8-12, and would be great chapter books for younger readers who are ready to take that step. I enjoyed them myself. My girls and I read these individually, although they would have made excellent read-alouds.

Life with Lily begins with Lily's Mama having a new baby. I found it interesting that Lily had no idea her mother was pregnant; her Papa woke her up to take her and her brother to their grandparents, where they had to wait and wonder what was going on. Even the grandparents didn't tell them, and little Lily was sure there was something dreadfully wrong.

Emma and I both enjoyed reading about the cranky neighbor, Mr. Young. He came over when Lily's Papa was building a fence to create a pasture for their new cow, and pitched a fit because he didn't want the cow eating "his" grass. Papa had Mr. Young show him where he thought the property lines were, and then simply moved the fence so there was no way Jenny the cow could possibly eat grass on Mr. Young's property. Lily was quite put out at Mr. Young's behavior, but Papa said whenever they thought of him, they would think good thoughts. There were other instances when Mr. Young was most unkind - including when he refused to take cookies from Lily's friend, Trisha, who happened to be African-American, but when Lily's family needed help, Mr. and Mrs. Young were both available to help. Sometimes "loving your neighbor" is not always easy, but this sweet Amish family refused to take offense at things that would have made me VERY angry and went out of their way to be kind.

One of my favorite parts of Life with Lily is when Mrs. Young gave her a sewing machine. Lily was absolutely delighted, and sat right down after telling her Mama she was ready to start sewing clothes for her doll. Mama gently informed her that she would have to learn to sew nine-patch squares first, and work her way up to doll clothes. Lily was not impressed. When Christmas time comes, Lily wants to make gifts for her parents. This quote makes me giggle:

"Later that day, Lily dug through Mama's bag of fabric scraps to see if she could find anything she liked. She didn't know how to sew anything except dumb nine-patch squares, but at least she could make a pretty nine-patch pot holder for Mama." p. 248

She also made a colorful tool belt for Papa. When her parents opened her gifts, they expressed such love and thanks to Lily!

In the second book, A New Home for Lily, Lily and her family left New York and moved to a new Amish community in Pennsylvania. Lily didn't want to leave her home and her friends, and it made me laugh that one of the things she disliked most was that her new house was painted olive green and it had orange counter tops. I would not have appreciated orange counter tops, either!

Lily gets into some funny scrapes in this book, too, like getting caught up on the billy goat's horns with her coat. It wasn't funny to Lily, but I certainly laughed (and so did Mama). It's interesting to read how her responsibilities grow at home. As she learns to cook, she makes rookie mistakes (just like I did), such as when she put cayenne pepper on the stuffed eggs instead of paprika, and made a bucket full of Jello for dessert. She made me laugh when she got upset about yet another "ugly" baby, when Mama has another little boy - not only did Lily want a sister, but she was really hoping for a prettier baby.

At one point, Lily decided to write different Bible verses to hang on the wall at home, because she has lovely handwriting. Mama thought it was a good idea too. After a visitor leaves in a huff without explanation, and Mama's brother who is visiting from out of town tries to leave after a very short stay, they realized that Lily had copied this verse for the wall:

Withdraw your foot from your neighbor's house; lest he be weary of you, and so hate you." -Proverbs 25:17

Lily's parents laughed and laughed when they saw what had happened (and so did I)! Mama hadn't seen this particular verse before Lily hung it on the wall because she'd been resting after having a baby. She did tell Lily that she'd like to see the verses before Lily put them up, in the future.

Charlotte Mason's first principle of education is that "Children are born persons," meaning they are not blank slates or empty buckets. Any parent with more than one child knows how very different each one is, right from birth. The Amish truly value their children. They have high expectations of them, but nothing unreasonable for their age. They certainly do not coddle their children, and the children don't complain to their parents about much at all. However, the parents are quite aware of what is going on, and when there is a problem, they step in. There was one instance in Lily's school when the teacher, who was not particularly nice, did something over the line - she forced a little boy who had a problem with stuttering to wear a garbage can on his head for the rest of the school day after he had a hard time reading aloud in class. Lily was very upset, but didn't complain at home. Her mother noticed she was upset, though, and when she heard what had happened, she didn't rail aloud against the teacher - but every day after that, one parent or another would show up and spend the day in the classroom, and at the end of the school year, the teacher was not asked to return. This was often the way: that when something happened, nothing was said at that moment, but later on, a parent would make a comment to a child that let you know they were fully aware of a situation and they gently instructed their child how to handle it without lecturing.

I enjoyed these books very much, and so did my girls. They are a wonderful peek into Amish life, which I've always found interesting. They also show good examples of teaching with love and offering grace to those who are less than gracious to us. The Amish are hard workers; I don't think most of us have any idea what it's like to work as hard as they do anymore. There aren't many modern-day books that I recommend, but these are lovely.

Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily are both available from Baker Publishing Group for $12.99 each, and you can choose between paperback and e-book formats.

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You know your children are schooled at home when...

My girls have been taking their end-of-year tests this week. It's been fairly entertaining for me. You can tell we've not done much standardized testing - in the past, they've taken the Woodcock-Johnson test, which is nothing like the fill-in-the-bubble kind they took this year.

Yesterday, I saw Abbie come out and get her iPad. I asked, "Are you done with your test, Sweetie?"

She said, "No, I need to look up what 'perpendicular' means."

I got to explain that if she doesn't know something, that's fine, but she can't look things up while she's taking the test. She was not amused.

Today, I heard the girls talking and went in to tell them they needed to be quiet.

"Emma's just explaining how to factor and cancel," says Abbie.

I tried very hard to keep a straight face, and told them they are not allowed to help each other on their tests, either. The looks they gave me were priceless - they were aghast. Emma informed me that she is against testing. If she only knew, right?

Isaac wants to spend lots of time outdoors, and I'm trying to make sure he can do that as much as possible, which means I get to go, too. This is not my favorite time of year for out-of-doors adventures, but it's not as hot and humid now as it's going to be in July and August, so I go. This morning, he wanted to dig up the dirt where our little pool used to be, because he has a plan to lay a foundation with our friend Jeremy. (Jeremy is an adult friend who mulched our flower beds and has done some other landscaping for us, and he let Isaac help him. He's always amused by the plans Isaac makes for them.)

Then, we had to go explore "The Woods." "The Woods" are a small line of trees and brush between our house and the neighbors. We had a dead tree fall across our driveway last week, so he wanted to go look for more dead trees. Then he found a small, gnarled dogwood tree with a really big vine crawling up through it, and discovered he could sort of climb it. This afternoon, we got to go back out and look for more climbing trees. Alas, we don't have any that are good for climbing. Poor boy. He worked hard to climb what we have, though!

WhenI told him it was time to come in, he asked if we could please do "just one more thing." He wanted to go on a nature walk. I agreed. He said, "You know, Mom, part of a nature walk is finding out what things are." Yes, son, I know this. I thought he might want to identify things and was debating running in for an insect book when he said, "Oh, look, this is a stick. And look over here! Another stick!" We spent a few minutes finding interesting sticks and even found one that looks like a gun. He said, "This was the best nature walk, EVER!"

REVIEW: Prima Latina from Memoria Press

I have wanted to teach Latin to my girls for years, but have felt strangely intimidated by it. I have no idea where my fears came from; I love languages, have a degree in linguistics, and know quite a bit of French and some Spanish. Latin should have been a no-brainer, but for some reason, it wasn't. My girls were resistant to the idea, too, so it was easier to avoid it altogether.

When the opportunity arose to review Prima Latina from Memoria Press, I decided the time had come to give Latin a try. Although the program is geared toward students in grades 2-4, and my girls are in 6th and 7th grades this year, I thought it would be a gentle, low-stress introduction to Latin, and it has proved to be just that.

We received the complete set (priced at $90.90) from Memoria Press, including the teacher's manual, student book, flash cards, DVDs, and pronunciation CD. I was able to obtain a second workbook from a friend so each girl had one to use. The workbook is printed in two colors (see a sample here), and the pages are nice and uncluttered, with plenty of room to write. The teacher's manual (sample here) has the entire student book with answers, as well as teaching tips, a vocabulary drill sheet to copy, tests, and answer keys. The flash cards contain all the vocabulary words in Prima Latina, as well as all the words you would need for the next program in the series, Lingua Latina. The pronunciation CD contains all the words from each lesson, as well as 4 hymns from Lingua Angelica, Memoria Press' Latin reading and translation course.

Prima Latina is an introduction to Christian Latin, which means that students learn ecclesiastical pronunciation. (If you're interested, there is a nice post about the differences between ecclesiastical and classical Latin here.) The program consists of 25 lessons, with a review scheduled after every set of 5 lessons. Students learn 5 vocabulary words in each lesson, along with their English derivatives, as well as a practical Latin phrase, and one line of a prayer. They will have learned an entire prayer by the end of every 5 lessons.

The DVD is truly the pièce de resistance. It contains 9 hours of instructional videos, done by Leigh Lowe, author of the program. She speaks to the students, and encourages them to interact with her. It was fun for me to listen to the girls repeating things back to her, and having them engage orally made it much easier for them to retain the information they learned.

Prima Latina Sample DVD Lesson

I was able to assign the girls to watch the DVD and complete the workbook pages for each exercise, and since they are older, they completed 3-4 lessons per week. They would never admit it, but I think they had fun. I loved the vocabulary and the English derivatives—it helped them make great connections with both languages. My favorite part, though, was learning the prayers, particularly the Gloria Patri. I can still hear the Gloria Patri in English in my head, from the years we attended a Lutheran church. I've found myself appreciating hymns and liturgy more and more, and for some reason, learning the Gloria Patri in Latin has been a precious, precious experience.

My goal with using Prima Latina was to introduce my girls to Latin, so they would be ready for a more age-appropriate program in the fall. We've accomplished that, and it's gone very well. We will be continuing with it through the summer, and I look forward to using the program with my son in a couple of years. If you're looking for a Latin program for younger children, or even for older children with some angst about Latin, Prima Latina is a great place to start.

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REVIEW - Logo Adventures from Motherboard Books

Have you ever taken a computer programming class? I did once, in college. I had no idea what I was doing. It was not one of my more stellar moments, I confess.

When the opportunity arose through the Schoolhouse Crew to review Logo Adventures from Motherboard Books, I was intrigued - and a little anxious. I certainly did not feel qualified to teach any kind of programming. However, Phyllis Wheeler, the author of the program, is not only a mechanical engineer with programming experience, she is a fellow homeschool mom. She has developed products to fill a need for homeschoolers looking for computer curriculum. She made sure they were accessible to parents who might not have extensive (or any) background in computers.

Here is a great thing: when I received my copy of Logo Adventures, I found that it is written so students can work independently! Also, I have a computer-savvy husband, so he has been the teacher for the material these past few weeks. Here is what he had to say:

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I was excited to have the opportunity to work with my girls on learning the basic skills of computer programming. I learned BASIC long ago on an Apple ][+, and have used those skills many times over in school and my job. I had never heard or used Logo before, so I was learning too!

Installing the included MicroWorlds EX Logo environment was smooth, and we were up and running quickly. It runs on Mac or Windows so everyone can enjoy the fun.

Logo Adventures does a great job of introducing Logo to new users. Logo is a neat first programming language due to the instant graphical feedback. It takes the concepts of programming, including sub-routines and if/then statements, and brings them to a graphical media that is fun to observe. The Logo interpreter provides instant feedback to the issued commands, making the language easy to learn and use.

The first few lessons went quickly, as the girls easily picked up the basics of Logo. The mix of graphics with the programming really kept the interest of both girls through the introduction. Also, the some of the well-placed questions in the lessons would lead them to some really cool patterns, which would then lead them to experiment further.

Here are some screen shots of the work they did:  

Abbie's practice drawing a triangle, with some variations:

My eldest likes to be colorful:

Each lesson was progressively more difficult. There are a couple of projects, each a couple of chapters long, completing the book. We did not finish the projects before this review, but I will certainly be continuing this until we do get through them.

Logo Adventures teaches the basics of computer programming, and introduces the logic needed to be successful at it. I have found the lessons enjoyable myself, and the girls have found them fun and challenging. There were days where the "Logo Laptop" was very heavily used at the expense of other subjects, to the dismay of my wife, who would have liked to see a little more work in some of their other subjects.

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Well, there you have it - a review from someone who knows about computer programming! My girls really do enjoy working in Logo. It was hard to get them off the computer sometimes, and on to other things. My older girl is somewhat averse to anything that makes her think through things carefully, which Logo did - but she kept with it. I know what a difficult time I had with a very basic computer programming experience when I was in college, so I am thrilled that the girls have had this introduction. I believe it will ease their way into any other programming skills they decide to learn later on, because now they know they CAN do it and it's not excessively difficult. Also, they enjoyed it, which is not something I can say about my own programming experience. They were excited to share their work with their dad and me, and that means a lot.

The details:

Logo Adventures come as a spiral-bound book with the answer key in the back. We were instructed to tear out the answer before giving the book to the girls. Obviously, Ms. Wheeler has met my oldest child. :-) The book also comes with the MicroWorlds EX installation CD, which installed easily onto the little Apple laptop the girls used, as Todd mentioned above. The system requirements are Windows XP/Vista/7/8, and Mac OS X Version 10.4 or higher. 

This program is available from Motherboard Books for $129.99. It's intended for children ages 8-12, and works well for younger children because there are no variables used; however, my 13 year old daughter was engaged and challenged by the lessons, so if you have older children who've never been exposed to programming, I think it's a nice intro for them too. It's also an excellent introduction to reasoning, and is another reason I was excited to review the product. I didn't tell the girls they were going to learn good reasoning skills; they were excited to be doing something fun and connecting with their dad.

My family really enjoyed using Logo Adventures. If you're looking for computer programming curriculum that's easy to teach and fun for the students, look no further!

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Shower the People You Love with Love

News of a tragedy has left me heartbroken this week. I'm sorry to be vague, but I can't share the details.

Take time to tell those you love how much they mean to you. When someone makes this world a better place, makes the sun shine a little more brightly, be sure to let them know. Truly, you never know when your last chance to do so will be.

I saw this quote on Facebook yesterday:

Encourage someone today. Be an angel to somebody today. Be a blessing to those who deserve it and those who do not, because you may never know whose life you are turning around. Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.  

I know you've seen those "pay it forward" things - how one act of kindness can grow into something so beautiful it takes your breath away; and how one person reacting badly can start a spiral of ugliness that is also breathtaking in its tragedy.

So. Make an effort to bless someone--with a smile, with a word of thanks, with a helping hand. Perhaps you can forgive, let go of a grudge, restore a relationship. You will never regret reaching out in love.

New from TOS - Schoolhouse Library!

The folks at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine have put together a great library of digital resources for homeschoolers! There are more than 175 items available, including audio books, blackline maps, ebooks, lapbooks, video, and more. It's a fantastic price, too! Check it out!

Schoolhouse Library