Book Review: Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth

Recently Little Bit has been asking me more about where babies come from. My older girls got to experience learning about how a baby grows from conception to birth when I was pregnant with her, but she doesn't get that experience. When I was given the opportunity to review Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth by Danika Cooley, I thought it would be a great way to help Little Bit learn about this miracle!

Danika Cooley is the creator of our Bible Curriculum, Bible Road Trip, as well as the author of a book we reviewed last year, When Lightning Struck: The Story of Martin Luther.

As the title suggestions, Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth walks through the weeks of pregnancy showing how the baby develops from conception until birth. The book is meant for ages 5-11 and is currently $9.99 on Amazon.
It is written as if the child's mother is talking, telling her child about how he or she developed through the pregnancy. While this worked well for me to read to Little Bit, it wouldn't work as well for her sisters, or daddy to read it to her. Also, if I was pregnant, and looking for a book to help my child understand what was happening with their new sibling, growing inside me, I think I would prefer a book that didn't specify that it was about the child bring read to.  With some effort, a reader could modify the book, while reading it out loud, to make it 3rd person (saying "your mommy's" instead of "my") or to make it about "your new brother or sister" instead of "you", so not a "deal breaker", just something to be aware of.

Little Bit enjoyed the book, though one thing she is currently interested is how the baby comes out of the Mommy's tummy, and this book doesn't go into the details of how the baby is born. I assume this is either because some babies are born c-section and others are not, or because some people would be uncomfortable with the discussion of female anatomy that would be necessary. I should also note that it doesn't go into any details of how the daddy's sperm joins with the mommy's egg inside the mommy, so again, there is no concern about introducing more about sex than you might be comfortable with at a young age. So, while Little Bit was looking for more, I think these omissions were handled well. The lack of information didn't stop Little Bit from asking to have the book read to her several times in the first couple of days after we received it. And I had to tell her that I needed to keep it on the bookshelf in the living room until after the review was written, she was planning to take it with her to keep in her room. She'll be glad to know I've FINALLY written the review so she can have her book back :)

Each page of the book includes artwork and a Bible verse. I wasn't sure how to handle the Bible verses, it would make the story very "choppy" to read them, so I didn't. You can see how the Bible verse is included on the sample page to the right.

Something else I hadn't thought about being an issue, but maybe I should have. We didn't have ultrasounds or find out Little Bit's gender before she was born. This book assumes everything that is done during a typical "mainstream" pregnancy, so I had to do some editing while I read, to explain that while yes, many people have the doctor take a picture of the baby inside mommy's tummy at this point, we didn't . . . etc.

Overall, if you're looking for a book to walk your child through how a baby develops throughout a pregnancy, this would be a good choice.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received and I was not required to write a positive review.

Book Review: When Lighting Struck: The Story of Martin Luther by Danika Cooley

As you've probably noticed, if you've spent any time with us, or read much on my blog, my older girls and I are obsessed with history. We love reading biographies, true stories, and historical fiction, as long as it's well written (if it's not, we'll probably notice, and complain about, the inaccuracies).

This year our focus is Early American history, but when we got the opportunity to review a brand new book about Martin Luther, we were more than happy to jump back to the reformation!

Danika Cooley is already a favorite of ours as we wrap up our third year using her Bible Road Trip curriculum for Bible (our "years" are a bit off since we school year round).

And now she's written an exciting new book, When Lightening Struck: The Story of Martin Luther. This book tells the story of Martin Luther for teens and tweens to read on their own, or families to read aloud together to children in 3rd grade and up.

I opted to read this book aloud to my two twelve year olds, so that we'd all get a chance to hear it, and give our opinion, during the review period.

All three of us enjoyed the book.  Some specific things we liked:

• The author draws from letters and historical documents in such a way that she shares much of the story in his own words.
• The book gives a balanced picture of Martin Luther. He wasn't perfect, he had a quick temper and could be arrogant when crossed. We appreciated that the book didn't hide or gloss over these aspects of the man.
• There are themes to the imagery used throughout the book. As you might guess, from the title, one such theme is lightening. The book begins with Martin Luther's fateful close call with a lightning bolt during a storm on his way to school, at which time, he vowed to change course and become a monk. The book comes full circle and near the end of the book, quotes someone comparing him to a lightning bolt that struck the organized religion of the day .
• Another imagery that I especially loved, was the image of Satan as a dragon. Throughout Martin Luther's life, he imagines he hears dragons' wings beating, and feels the hot fiery breath of the dragon in moments when he is engaged in spiritual warfare of some sort. I appreciated this imagery for myself, and think it is also an effective imagery to help young people see that we truly are in a fight, not against flesh and blood. For homeschoolers who, like us, tend to approach history chronologically, the dragon imagery will fit nicely with the middle ages/reformation time period that this book falls into. 

I honestly don't think we had any complaints about the book, and that's saying something. The book was easy to understand, and read, without being overly simplified. It was well-researched and we didn't find any discrepancies with what we learned about Martin Luther and this time period when we studied it last spring.

I am thrilled to have this book in our library and have no doubt that we will read it again next time we cycle around to this time period in history. If you're looking for a great family read aloud, I'd highly recommend When Lightening Struck: The Story of Martin Luther by Danika Cooley.

Good to know:
Danika is having a HUGE SALE right now, check it out!!!!

Don't forget to enter the $500+ Reformation Giveaway, including When Lighting Struck!

Be sure to attend When Lighting Struck's FACEBOOK RELEASE PARTY on Tuesday, November 10 at 9pm EST.

Danika is generously offering a FREE Discussion Guide AND a FREE 12-week Unit study on Martin Luther (for subscribers to her blog)!! Information on both can be found here.

Book Review: The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung (and GIVEAWAY!!!!)

I love Bible stories, though I'm pretty picky about them. Too many kids' Bible stories add or leave out details, changing the story. When I was given the opportunity to review The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung, I was intrigued. . .

When I received the book, I was blown away. This is a GORGEOUS book! It just feels rich! The pictures are bright and eye-catching, and unexpected and . . . AMAZING. The book itself is big and has thick pages and a built-in ribbon bookmark. This is just plain a beautiful book!

When I began reading the book. I wasn't sure . . . I had assumed this was a picture book, for young children, and as such, it would be something I'd read to my six year old. But as I started into it . . . I don't think that would work. Obviously, others disagree, since the stated age range is 5-11, but I just don't think she'd "get it". . . this book FLIES through the main idea of the Bible, chronologically, focusing specifically on the things most key to understanding the plan of salvation, but it very much assumes that you know the stories it's mentioning briefly. I don't think she'd follow it yet.

So, instead, after I finished reading it, I handed it to my 12 year old, Lexie. Told her to read it and tell me what she thought. As she reading, she kept giggling, and reading excerpts to me that struck her as amusing (like the way it points out that so many people had more than one name). She had the same reaction I did, the pictures are really cool. It wouldn't work for little kids because they wouldn't know all the stories. I asked her how she felt about it for her age, and she said "it's funny, I like it. I don't think I learned anything." I didn't argue with her, but I wonder . . . sometimes I think reading  a "summary" level can help us see things differently. The humorous way this is written, the way it focuses so completely on how everything worked toward the ultimate "point of it all" . . . I think it CAN help us see things in a new way.

As I thought about it, I could see this book being a great option to use in a church class for tweens or teens. I think they'd enjoy the writing style, and, going through it, one chapter per week, it could be a good springboard for some great discussions.

It can also be a different "take" on things to read a a family at Christmas time or Easter time.

Overall, this is a beautiful book with a different approach to a well-known story. I'm thrilled to add it to my library!

If you'd like to add a copy to your library you can purchase it here, for $17.99 OR enter my giveaway to win a copy!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling me how you'd use this book. Please make sure to include your e-mail address or another way to let you know if you're the winner.

For additional entries, share this giveaway on social media and come back and tell me where you shared it. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

I will choose a winner at random on Friday, September 18. After I contact the winner he or she will have 48 hours to reply to me with a mailing address, or I will choose another winner.

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Book Review: Motivate Your Child Action Plan by Scott Turansky and Joann Miller

Earlier this year I reviewed Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller's book, Motivate Your Child. I loved it, as I've loved all of their books! So when the National Center for Biblical Parenting gave me the opportunity to review the Motivate Your Child Action Plan, I might have jumped up and down in excitement! 

The Action Plan is a workbook, of sorts to help parents very practically get started with the ideas presented in Motivate Your Child. The Action Plan also comes with 12 30 minute audio downloads, so even if you're an auditory learner, or a mom of little ones who doesn't have time to sit down and read a book, but could listen to audios while doing housework, in the car, or nursing babies, you have that option as well! The audio and the book together are ideal! AND through the end of May, the book is 25%, making it only $29.95!!!

I have to admit, when I first got this book, I dove in . . . I wanted to develop an action plan with all three of my children, but because it's a very child-specific approach, I would need a separate action plan for each child, and I found myself feeling very overwhelmed. Add in a busy season of life (aren't they all?) and I felt overwhelmed. I decided to take a deep breath, step back, and start with one child. I fully intend to use this plan over and over with each of my children as different issues pop up in our lives. Perhaps most importantly, and one of the things I always love about the National Center for Biblical Parenting every time I attend one of their seminars, listen to one of their audio or video products, or read one of their books, is the reminder that God isn't finished with ME yet. That often when I come up against parenting challenges, the change has to start with me. And this book is no exception. I have been convicted repeatedly, going through this book, of things I need to pray more about and do differently. Working through this process has also reminded me of all the amazing things my kids do and are! (and for those parts I did step back and go over those portions as it relates to all 3 of my children, I wanted the chance to be reminded of EACH of my children's amazingness! And I will likely revisit those pages often, especially when I'm struggling. 

After the first couple of chapters, about the same time that I realized I needed to focus on developing a plan for one child at a time, I also realized that as I continued through the book, I wanted to go back and change some of my answers. At that point I decided that, for me, it would work better to read through the entire book before I started actively developing a plan with my child. I also had to let go of timeframes and deadlines (exceptionally hard to do when I'm doing a book review . . . I desperately want to get through the book, and be able to say "this works" (or it doesn't) and here's how I know that! Here's the RESULTS!) There is sooo much in this book, so much to think about and pray about and truly take time at each step along the way. I had to give up my initial idea of "finishing" during the review period. Instead I took time to read through the whole book and now I'm going back through it, and working with my child. Another challenge for our family right now is that each chapter encourages having a "meeting" with your child. Most of the time I love that our family does things together, the girls share a bedroom, much of our school is done together . . . I love that togetherness and have been intentional in encouraging it and fostering it over the year. However, it does make it challenging to find time for lots of one-on-one time with one child, without the other children questioning it. I'm still working on figuring out that part. . . 

So, I'm moving slowly with this one. I'm digesting it, praying a LOT . . . praising God for all the positive things He's reminding me of through this book. I can't tell you the end result of it, but I CAN tell you that it's already helped me so much, and is continuing to do so. I strongly recommend it to parents at all stages!!!

Book Review: From Tablet to Table by Leonard Sweet

In From Tablet to Table, Leonard Sweet presents the idea that Christianity is not about a "tablet" (or book), and more about relationships. Throughout the Bible we see people gathering to share food and ideas together. In today's busy culture, gathering together around the table is become rare, in families and in communities, and with that shift, relationships are suffering.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to get as much out of this book, as I did. I found myself nodding along with parts, being convicted by parts, and wanting to dig deeper into questions that the book raised. This book reminded me of the importance of building and maintaining relationships with my children. The book is an interesting blend of encouraging us to literally spend time at the table. . . gathering together to share a meal as a way to build relationships in a natural, comfortable, informal way, while also using the table symbolically to speak about relationships, and fellowship as a whole. In some cases, I found those shifts confusing, but overall, this short book has a lot to say.

Disclaimers:
Links in this post are affiliate links. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was received.

Book Review: Motivate Your Child by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller

Today, Motivate Your Child by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller is finally AVAILABLE!

I've been a huge fan of Dr. Turansky and Mrs. Miller's parenting books for several years now. When I was given the opportunity to participate on their launch team for Motivate Your Child, I was over-the-moon! I have been struggling these last few months with figuring out how to motivate my children. When Lexie and Ashlyn were younger, they both had a strong drive to "do it myself" that kept them self-motivated. But as they've gotten older, that hasn't seemed to work as well. They still enjoy learning new things, but I've noticed a couple challenges. One is a lack of motivation once they have mastered a skill. The other, that I've seen in their schoolwork, is giving up easily when something is hard.

Meanwhile, as Little Bit (5) gets older, I'm realizing that she doesn't have that same "do it myself" attitude that her older sisters had, and that, combined with hearing her sisters complain about chores, has led to a lack of motivation on her part as well.

So, this book came to me at the PERFECT TIME (God is soo cool!)! Normally I love ebooks, but I have to admit, as I started reading my (advance) .pdf copy of this book, I found myself anxiously looking forward to the print copy so I could make notes and underline as I went. So I was especially excited when my copy of the book came!

And yes, I've been scribbling all over it, and loving every minute. As happens so often, when I review a "how to" type book, I found that I wanted to take it slow with actually implementing, and I needed to read it in a certain time frame. So I chose to read it, and mark it up, during the review period. I've been praying and mulling over the ideas and keeping them in mind, but now I want to go back through and read this book one chapter at a time and really pray about, and discuss with my children, and focus on the ideas in that chapter, and then move forward.

As you can tell from the title, Motivate Your Child explains how to build internal motivation in your child(ren) so that they choose to do what's right for the right reasons! This book gives practical ideas and real-life examples from the authors' counseling experience. The first part of the book focuses on moral development and the second part focuses on spiritual development. Both are sooooo important to raising our children!

This isn't a "quick fix" kind of thing. It's about building relationships and changing ourselves and our children's hearts. I can't tell you that, after reading this book, my children are perfectly motivated to do what's right in every situation, but I CAN tell you that reading this book has given me so much HOPE for something that I have felt very discouraged about! I feel like now I at least know a direction to go, and how to move forward in helping my children, both the tweens and the 5 year old, want to do what's right, and even more importantly, to lead them in their spiritual development.

This is a book that I recommend to parents of children of all ages!

Other products that I have reviewed for the National Center for Biblical Parenting:

   Christian Parenting Handbook
   A Family Toolbox

affiliate links may be used in this post

Motivate Your Child!!!

I am excited to share with you about a new book I’m reading this month -- Motivate Your Child: A Christian Parent's Guide to Raising Kids Who Do What They Need to Do Without Being Told. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Isn't that what you want for your kids? This is an area that's been heavy on my heart lately, so this book couldn't come at a better time for me!

God's Word gives us a better way to parent, one that builds strong internal motivation in children. When parents change the way they parent, kids change the way they live. Motivate Your Child is a practical book that explores a theology of internal motivation and then gives parents real-life solutions to equip their kids for life.

This is the newest book by parenting experts, Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN from the National Center for Biblical Parenting (NCBP), also authors of The Christian Parenting Handbook.  In order to motivate parents to Pre-Order the book, the NCBP is offering a $150 package of resources for FREE! There are video, audio and print items that can be used on a variety of devices. You can learn more on the Book Website. You can Pre-Order the book now from any retailer, and then follow the instructions below.

INSTRUCTIONS: Purchase the book. Email the receipt to gift@biblicalparenting.org. The NCBP will send you the link and a special code to access these downloadable products. This offer is good until January 31, 2015.

Schoolhouse Crew Review: Purposeful Design

As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew we had the opportunity to review Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation by Jay Schabacker. This is available through Purposeful Design's website.

Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation by Jay Schabacker is a beautifully illustrated "coffee table" book about God's amazing creation week. As the title suggests, the focus is on showing that God's loving, PURPOSEFUL design was behind this creation and is shown in the amazing scientific principles that keep our world working.

The book arrived while we were out of town. My friend, who was cat sitting, mentioned that a package had arrived on a rainy day (and for some reason that continues to boggle my mind, the mail person consistently leaves packages on our uncovered back porch instead of our covered front porch, even in the rain, WHY?!?!?). Anyway, because the package was wet, she opened it to make sure the contents were undamaged. The envelope had a plastic lining so the book was fine, but my point in all this . . . my friend couldn't resist raving over how beautiful the book was!

As I began reading the book to my daughters, my 5 year old was excited to recognize the first words "In the beginning God created . . . " from her Bible stories! "Mommy! I know that story!" the book continues through each of the days of creation. On each day, the author briefly explains how truly amazing the systems created on that day are and how they all work together.

The beautiful pictures and simple explanations make this book ideal for young children. But the science that is explained is complex enough to capture the attention of older children and adults as well.

Included with your purchase is the Purposeful Design: Young Explorer's Club. This is a .pdf download of a workbook for children to use in conjunction with reading Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation. The download includes a few pages of comprehension type questions about each of the 7 chapters (which coincide with the 7 days of creation). There is also a teacher's answer key and printable certificates of completion to motivate your children. My older girls have never been fans of workbooks, we do sometimes use reading comprehension type questions as starting points for discussion, but as I glanced over the questions in this workbook, I felt my 11 year olds would find them abit on the young side. My 5 year old is still at a preschool level, but shows more interest in workbook-like activities, so she might enjoy this workbook in a couple of years. I'm keeping it in mind to use with her when she's at a 2nd or 3rd grade level. The workbook also includes Bible verses to go along with each chapter, in addition to the relevant verses in Genesis 1, so it could also be used for a church class or as daily devotions at home or at school.

Because I didn't feel the workbook would be a good fit for any of my children, we simply enjoyed reading the book together, soaking in the beautiful pictures and marveling all over again in the beauty and amazingness of God's creation.

As we approach Christmas, this would be an ideal gift for adults and children alike. It is available for $18.95 and includes the above mentioned downloadable curriculum.

Social Media:
Jay Schabacker's blog
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn: Jayschab

To see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of this beautiful book, click the link below:


All prices and information are accurate at time of posting.

Book Review: Preschoolers and Peace by Kendra Fletcher

As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew,  I was asked to review Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling older kids with success while loving the little ones at your feet by Kendra Fletcher.

My first introduction to Preschoolers and Peace was last year when I reviewed another book by Kendra Fletcher, Circle Time. I found many useful ideas in that book, and when I was asked to review Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling older kids with success while loving the little ones at your feet I agreed.

Kendra Fletcher is a homeschooling mom of eight children ranging in age from 6 to 21. She started her website, Preschoolers and Peace, after giving a workshop on homeschooling with babies and toddlers, and it has grown over time. Readers of her site kept suggesting that she compile the ideas of the site into an e-book and so Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling older kids with success while loving the little ones at your feet is the result.  This ebook is about homeschooling school age children while also caring for your babies and/or toddlers.

The book starts with the absolute, most important, key to all homeschooling, and all parenting. . . prayer! What a great reminder, no matter what age our children are! And not only does she remind us to pray, she gives some ideas on how to make it a priority while raising little ones.

Next, the book gives practical advice on scheduling, including, the VERY important advice to make sure the schedule is working for you, not the other way around, and a reminder to toss the schedule when it's not working for you. Perhaps the most valuable part is an oh-so-valuable list of practical suggestions of ways to keep little ones busy while schooling bigger ones. While I don't agree with everything, there are lots of ideas and suggestions here to choose from.

I loved the suggestions Kendra gives for how to actually fit Preschool in, and the hands-on, real-life suggestions she gives for using these years to teach our little ones along with our older children.

There's also a whole section on preschool boys. I have to admit, as the mom of 3 girls, I only skimmed this section, but who better than a homeschool mom of five boys to give advice on preschooling boys?

The rest of the book focuses on what it's like to parent little ones, including chores for preschoolers, how to cope when you're pregnant, and the "necessities" like meal planning.

I would have LOVED to have a book like this to give me guidance a few years ago!  My youngest, Little Bit, is 6 years younger than my twins, so much of the first years of "really" homeschooling the twins was done with the added challenge of adding a new baby, who quickly turned into a mobile, very busy, toddler to our family. That picture on the left was a pretty common sight for awhile there, but it worked for us.

If you have preschool age children and homeschool, or are considering homeschooling, I'd recommend this book. And at only $2.99 for the ebook, you really can't go wrong!

You can find Preschoolers and Peace on social media too:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google+
YouTube

To see what other members of the crew thought of this book, click the banner below:


All prices and information are accurate at time of posting.

Book Review: The Trail by Ed Underwood

 This post may contain affiliate links

The Trial by Ed Underwood tells the story of a young couple seeking God's will on a life decision, but disagreeing about how to discover His will. Their friends suggest they spend a few days hiking in the mountains with Sam a pastor, mountain man who could help them learn to discern God's will.  Over the course of their hiking trip, Sam teaches them 8 principles and helps them see how their approach to finding God's will was flawed. Meanwhile they helped Sam in ways he wasn't expecting.

While this isn't a very long book, it spoke to me in a big way! I especially saw myself in accountant, Matt's desire to analyze things and be sure that they "make sense" . . .and know what's coming next. Sam's 8 principles are short and to the point, backed by scripture, and very powerful. I was torn, this book is written in a way that it would work extremely well to read one chapter, and then ponder the principle presented in that chapter, and focus on adopting that principle before moving on to the next one. However, I also wanted to know what was going to happen next to the characters and, what the next principle, Sam would teach would be. So in the end, I read this book through quickly, in just a couple days (in my pre-kid days I'd have easily read it in one sitting, but uninterrupted reading time is much harder to find these days). Now that I've read the whole book, I am going to take some time during my morning devotion time to really dig into each of the principles and work toward incorporating them into my life.

This short, easy to read book, can have a big impact!

Disclaimer: I received a complementary copy of this ebook from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in compliance with the FTC requirements.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Kinder Cottage

We love books! And rather firmly believe that there's no such thing as too many books, just too few bookshelves. Well, *I* believe that, dh begs to differ, hee hee. . . So, when we got the chance to choose two of the Peter Rabbit books from Kinder Cottage Publishing, the only decision to make was which two books to get! I chose Peter Rabbit Goes A-Visiting and How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea.

Kinder Cottage Publishing is a small, family owned publisher, you can read about them on their About Us page.

The Peter Rabbit books that Kinder Cottage sells were originally written by Duff Graham over 90 years ago and are in the public domain. Kinder Cottage made some changes to update the language, such as using bicycle instead of velocipede.

The books we received are small, hard cover books, with tons of full color illustrations throughout. These books are ideal for ages 3-9. And are available from Kinder Cottage for $4 each.

As soon as we got them, Lexie and Little Bit settled into a chair to read together! I love that!

They started out reading Peter Rabbit Goes A-Visiting. In this book, Peter Rabbit's mother asks him to go to the doctor to get medicine for his sister, Flopsy's toothache. Mother tells him to come straight back, but instead he ends up going to a party with his cousin, Jack. Interestingly, instead of the typical "and the moral of the story is, go straight home" that I was expecting, he has a wonderful time, gets home, tells his mother about his adventures, and she, and his sisters forgive him all.

The other book that we received was  How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea.  In this story, Peter's mother has told him and his sisters not to play near the brook but, after doing various other things, Peter decides he wants to play "Pirate", builds himself a boat, and sails off. He ends up, quite quickly, making it all the way to the sea where he encounters a shark, whale, crab, etc before a sea gull picks him up and begins to carry him home. When he gets home, before his mother can say anything, he declares he will never play pirate again!

Despite the endings being less "and the moral of the story is" than most books of this era and genre, they are otherwise much the same. At one point, while I was reading one of the books to Little Bit, she declared that she doesn't like them because they're scary because Peter Rabbit always does things he's not supposed to. I think the combination of Little Bit's very empathetic personality (she is generally more upset than her older sisters when one of them has to deal with an unpleasant consequence of their actions), and the fact that punitive discipline and corporal punishment are not how we do things in our house, combines to make the stories not entirely to her liking. Any child who enjoys other books of a similar genre from the early 1900s, would, no doubt, find these books equally enjoyable.

As an added bonus, to the already incredibly reasonable prices, use coupon code TOS to receive a 20% discount off the product price on the Kinder Cottage website!

To see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of these books, and the rest of the Peter Rabbit books from Kinder Cottage, click the banner, below.


All prices and information are accurate at time of posting.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Learning Breakthrough Program

I'd never heard of Learning Breakthrough Program when I was asked to review their book, A Life in Balance by Frank Belgau as told to Eric Belgau. But since I've always been fascinated by learning styles and how the brain works, I was more than happy to help them out, AND get to review something just for ME, instead of for the kids, since while the information in the book can be used to help children, as well as adults, learn better, the book is targeted at adults, or older teens.

If I understand it correctly, Learning Breakthrough Program is a program to train people to integrate auditory, visual, motor, tactile, balance, etc, to help their brains work better!  And the book, A Life in Balance tells the story of the program's founder, Frank Belgau.

I have to admit, at first, I was expecting the book to be more of a "how to" book for the program, and, with that assumption, I found it rambling . . . but once I realized it was more the story of Mr. Belgau's life and how he came to create the learning breakthrough program, I liked it better. It's definitely written in a "as told to" format, it felt as if I were sitting with Mr. Belgau, listening to him reminisce about his life, and it was a delightful conversation!

One of my favorite parts of the book was when he describes meeting his wife, you can just hear how much he adores her, it's awesome to hear that kind of love! It also shows how, from the time they met, the project and research that grew into the learning breakthrough program was one that both believed in and were dedicated to, that shared passion led to their shared lifework and what sounds like a strong, loving marriage.

Toe on Spot

Another truly amazing story is the story of the birth of his youngest daughter, Beth. His wife had sung Edelweiss to her inside the womb, throughout the pregnancy, and after a difficult delivery, his wife began to sing Edelweiss to newly born, Beth. Not only did Beth open her eyes in response to the song, but began moving her arms, conductor-like, in time to the music. What an amazing testimony of how much babies are learning even before they are born, and how all pieces of the brain work together.

While most of the book is the story of what led Mr. Belgau to develop the learning breakthrough program, and the various aspects of it that he discovered along the way,  the book does describe some of the exercises and activities that Mr. Belgau developed. In my non-technical language, these are physical activities, such as tossing a beanbag or various walking/running/hopping activities that help to "line up" the various parts of the brain to help children, and people of all ages, remember things, and understand concepts to learn better.

Marching Backwards

Mr. Belgau originally discovered these correlations, and developed the program to help children who had learning challenges that the school systems at the time didn't have tools to address. However, the program can also help all children concentrate better and has been found to be beneficial for older people who are beginning to experience difficulties remembering things. It can also help with vision issues in people of all ages.

After reading the book, I decided to set up a "Space Walk" course on our driveway, using sidewalk chalk, and see how the girls did with it. In addition to helping children who are struggling, seeing how easily a child is able to perform the activities in the "Space Walk" can be an indicator of how well they are able to learn and remember.

Since all 3 of my girls have picked up new concepts quickly in all areas of learning, I wasn't surprised to find that even Little Bit was able to easily complete the various activities in the "Space Walk". Ashlyn did, opt out partway through because she'd twisted her ankle a day or 2 ago, and all the hopping and such was bothering it.

Walk a line heel-to-toe

In addition to being a fun "obstacle course" type activity, we also talked about this being a good way to "reset" their brains if they're having trouble concentrating on a subject in school.  Also, since Ashlyn is an extremely auditory learner, she sometimes struggles to "pay attention" when she's reading to herself. I suggested that she try some of these activities, or other, similar ones, before her independent reading time and see if it helps.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the "story" of this book, and find the concepts fascinating and something every homeschool parent, or educator should be aware of and at least consider incorporating into their teaching and learning!

You can purchase A Life in Balance for $16.94.

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Book Review: If I Had Lunch with C.S. Lewis by Alister McGrath

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In If I Had Lunch With C. S. Lewis, Alister McGrath imagines the kinds of conversations that one could have over lunch with C. S. Lewis. He uses Lewis's prolific writings, as well as research that he's done into Lewis's life, to determine how Lewis might answer questions on various deep topics ranging from whether God exists, to Heaven, to death . . .

I have been a big fan of C. S. Lewis since I was a teenager. One of my favorite college classes, was a literature class on his writings. But, it's been many years since I've read his works, and this book was a great "refresher" on just why, I've always loved Lewis's writings. I felt that McGrath did a good job of providing important background information on Lewis's life to help us understand how he thought, and why he wrote what he wrote.  I came away from this book feeling that I knew C. S. Lewis, the person, a little better, and with a renewed interest in going back and re-reading many of his books. This is a great read for anyone who already loves Lewis's writings, or is interested in learning more about him and his writings.

I received a free copy of the above mentioned book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own. I'm disclosing this in compliance with FTC regulations.

Book Review: Prototype

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Prototype by Jonathan Martin reminds us that God loves us as much as He loves His own Son. That when God looks at us, instead of seeing our sins and imperfections, He sees His perfect, sinless, Beloved Son. Jesus is our prototype, and we can live our lives, in victory, not fear, knowing that God loves us!

I received both the book, and the small groups DVD of this title.

Since I much prefer reading, to watching something on tv, I chose to read the book first. The book is written in a very personal, almost conversational style, sharing many examples from his life, and the lives of others he's talked to. Jonathan Martin leads an inner city ministry and he, and those in ministry with him, have experience first hand, God's love of the least of these, and what amazing things can happen when we set aside our preconceived ideas and societal norms and love like Jesus did! If you are looking for a reminder of God's love, and what that should mean to us on a practical level, this is a great book for you!!!

After reading the book, I began watching the DVD. It appears to be the book, read to you, with discussion questions inserted at regular intervals. If you are someone who prefers to hear a book, rather than read it (my daughter, Ashlyn is an auditory learner), this would be a great option. Also, if you are planning to study this book together in a small group setting, the video takes all the "prep work" out of it for you, and would be a great choice!

Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned product(s) from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in compliance with FTC regulations.

Book Review: The Passionate Mom

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I was given the opportunity to review the Kindle book, The Passionate Mom: Dare to Parent in Today's World, by Susan Merrill.

Susan Merrill is the director of iMOM and mother of 5 children. In this book, she looks at the story of Nehemiah, in the Bible, and uses his passionate approach to rebuilding Jerusalem, as a guidebook for being a Passionate Mom, building our children's lives as they grow. She looks at the steps he took in building the walls of Jerusalem and relates them to the steps we should take in raising our children in a way that protects them as they grow, while preparing them for today's world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this very different way of digging into Nehemiah's life, and found most of her advice to be spot-on. She has a wonderfully down-to-earth writing style and transparently shares her struggles as a mom, as well as her triumphs.

As is typically the case when I read parenting books, there were a few things that I disagreed with, and things that I know don't work with my kids (ever since the twins were babies, I've joked that they forgot to read the parenting books, and don't respond to things the way books say children will), but all-in-all, this book made me think and helped me to be a better mom!

Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned ebook free, in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and no other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: At Home at Dogwood Mudhole

Usually Schoolhouse Review Crew products are for the kids. Or for the "teacher" part of my job description. But this final review product of 2013, was just for me!

At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume 1: Nothing that Eats by Franklin Sanders is the first of three volumes, consisting of the newsletters that Franklin Sanders sent out to subscribers to his Moneychanger newsletter over a period of seventeen years.

When the book begins, Franklin is, as many of us were, concerned about Y2K. Partially motivated by these concerns, he and his wife buy land in Tennessee and end up moving not only themselves and their still-at-home-age children, but also some of their older, married children onto this property and begin moving toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

In case you were wondering where the title comes from. Dogwood Mudhole is where the Sanders family lives. I'd say "only in Tennessee" except since I live in Pennsylvania where we have towns named everything from Bethlehem to Blue Ball, I guess I can't really say much about Tennessee's interesting addresses, hee hee.  The first volume gets it's subtitle "Nothing that Eats" from the frequent plea of Sanders' wife, Susan whenever he and various of their children attend livestock auctions or flea markets. Despite her plea, they seem to always come home with more livestock or pets and many of the stories in the book revolve, not surprisingly, around those animals, including various dog stories, and many humorous incidents revolving around the family's attempts to figure out how this whole farming thing works, from raising pigs to plowing fields with, not-well-broken, very LARGE, horses. . .

This book was unlike anything else I've ever read. It is humorous, and "down-to-earth" and in many ways like sitting down and listening to an interesting granfatherly-type tell stories of his family.

Franklin Sanders is an interesting guy. He, and several members of his family, enjoy participating in Civil War reenactments as confederates. He provides a fascinating, more pro-confederacy, perspective on the war, the reasons behind it, etc. Definitely not what you're likely to read in any textbooks :)

You can purchase At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume 1: Nothing that Eats for $22.95 for paperback or $16.95 for Kindle/ePub/PDF. This is a good book for older teens and adults, I don't think my ten year olds would enjoy it yet.

If you're looking for an entertaining book about life in Tennessee and interesting tips and tidbits on a variety of topics, I'd recommend this book, as a great read!

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