Motivate Your Child | Review

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Have you ever tried a new system thinking it would help motivate your child to take responsibility of certain chores or just to be an active and involved member of your family, only to find that the system works for a few days or (if you're lucky) weeks and then the thrill and excitement wear off. (Yes, my hand is raised!)

After reading Motivate Your Child: A Christian Parent's Guide to Raising Kids Who Do What They Need to Do Without Being Told, I realized that the methods I was using were only using external means of motivation. And quite honestly, external means only motivate us for so long. Motivate Your Child teaches parents through real life example how to give our children the gift of internal motivation.

There are so many books on the market that give general ideas, blanket answers, and a one-size-fits-all answer for raising and teaching children how to do what is asked of them. Motivate Your Child is the first book I have read that gives at least two to three examples per chapter of real life families and situations and  how to approach each situation in a way that will not only correct the behavior in the present but will also impact the child's heart for the future.

Have you ever read a situation and thought to yourself, "That is my family they are talking about! I dealt with that same situation last week!" I cannot tell you how many times I had those same thoughts run through my head as I read this book.

Every once in a while a book comes your way that really impacts and changes the way you approach what you "normally do." "Motivate Your Child" has made me realize that we need to teach our child to be motived by internal means (conviction) because our ultimate goal of correction and loving discipline is to bring them to Christ.

Although I read this for the review, I can tell you honestly that I will be rereading it again in the next month with my husband. As parents, it is so important that we are on the same page when it comes to raising our children for the Lord, and using the same techniques and having the same information can make a huge difference.

Child raising books are everywhere, but this one deals with more than just raising a child. It deals with the heart of child with the ultimate goal of bringing our children to Christ- not just having "good" kids. I don't just want kids that obey and are good. I want kids who have a relationship with Christ, and because of that relationship are motivated to obey and be good.

If you are tired of trying a new technique every few weeks to keep your children motivated, I would recommend that you pick up a copy of  Motivate Your Child today. The first time your child shows motivation because of what is happening in their heart, you will reap the benefits of your investment.

To learn more about this book and its authors, check out their website.

Motivate Your Kids

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?

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.

Pre-order from Amazon 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.

Melk, the Christmas Monkey

(Click on the photo to learn more about Melk)

That's right! There is an adorable little monkey who is creating quite a stir in the Ladouceur residence! He made a quick little appearance in the month of September and then scurried away to hide until late November.

Who is this little Monkey?

Well, his real name is Melchior Noel Yule, but he prefers being called Melk. Melk's mission in life is to tell children all about God and His great love. He would love to visit your family for 30 days to teach your children about the character of God.

Melk came for an early two day visit to our family, where we got to play with, interact with, and learn from him. 

Melk is nocturnal, so he is awake while your children sleep. When they wake up, your little ones will find out what Melk has been up to! He is never mischievous, but he is always involved in some kind of activity that your children can join in when they find him.

One morning, he had been gluing marshmallows to a paper to spell out the word "happy." He then went on to share (with Mommy as the interpreter) that it made God happy to create the world and each one of us. He shared some Scripture with the kids, and then invited them to help him finish his craft.

Another day, my kids woke up to find Melk reaching his way into a jar that had candy on the bottom. During breakfast he taught us that God's Word is sweet using the Psalms as the base for our lesson and discussion. Of course, being the sweet, kind, generous little monkey that he is, he shared some candy with my children after our lesson (I made the exception to let them eat candy after breakfast, because Melk asked so nicely). 

Melk will come back to visit us at the end of November to help keep our hearts and spirits in line with what the real purpose of Christmas is- the celebration of our Lord Jesus. 

Some reasons I prefer Melk as a daily Christmas visitor

I love Christmas, but sometimes, the act of preparing so many different activities can become overwhelming. Melk is going to be our only daily activity for Christmastime this year. Katie Hornor (the author of Putting on the Spirit devotional) has already done all of the planning. All I have to do is follow her directions. She has given a list of what is needed, links to the downloads of the crafts suggested, and what activity Melk should be working on when the children find him in the morning. 

I appreciate that Melk is never found getting into mischief. He is always doing something sweet, fun, productive, or enjoying Christmas with the innocent wonder of a child (like the morning my children will find him sleeping under the tree).

Rather than being someone who reports back to Santa about how the children are behaving, Melk points children to God and explains Biblical truths in easy to understand ways. 

What do I get when I purchase Melk, the Christmas Monkey e-book?

If you purchase the Melk, the Christmas Monkey e-book between November 1-8, you will also get a pack of free Melk coloring pages.

Melk, the Christmas Monkey: Teaching God's Character through Bible Lessons and Activities the Entire Family Can Enjoy is also available through Amazon as a paper back book or Kindle edition.

Katie is also including a set of journaling pages for your children to document their adventure with Melk. These can be downloaded after your purchase.

Where can I purchase Melk?

Your "Melk" will be a completely separate purchase. Although he is called the Christmas Monkey, you are free to use any stuffed animal you have on hand and change him to "Melk, the Christmas Moose, Giraffe, Puppy, Etc." This is the Melk we chose to go with through Amazon (you do not get to chose which monkey you will be sent, but we were happy with the Melk we received).

Your purchase of Melk the Christmas Monkey e-book will bless others

Katie Hornor is not only a great author, she and her family are missionaries in Mexico. The funds that come in from November 1-8 will go towards the yearly Christmas outreach they do for the children in the area of their church plant. This outreach includes a small, meaningful gift and Gospel tract. 

Would you like to try a Melk lesson before purchasing?

We thought you might! By visiting the Melk website, you can download a free lesson and give it a try with your family.

Melk is sure to become a family tradition

Melk came to visit us in September and my children are already looking forward to his next visit. I know that when he gets put away with our Christmas decor, my kids are going to anxiously await his next visit. This sweet little guy whose sole purpose is to point our children's hearts towards the Lord will always be welcome in our home.

Love Letters from God | Review

I was recently sent a copy of the book Love Letters from God: Bible Stories by Glenys Nellist and illustrated by Sophie Allsopp. I will tell you all about this book, but let me just start out by saying that when your 3 and 6 year old ask if you can read them the "Love Letters" book throughout the day, you know it is book that kids "get" and truly love.

There are children's Bible story books a plenty, but Glenys Nellist has taken a completely unique approach to sharing these Bible stories. Much in the way that I retell Bible accounts, Glenys shares the accounts from the point of view of the characters in the story- not as an outsider looking in. What might Jonah have been thinking when he ran away from God? What might Eve have thought as she touched and ate the fruit? Might David have had the courage to go against Goliath because he knew that God was with him?

Each account walks children through the Bible account in a way that they will understand and gives them a Bible verse (God's Wonderful Words to You) which carries on the main theme or even a phrase that Glenys made sure was a part of the account.

However, the part that my children loved the most, was the "Love Letter from God." At the end of each account is a little flap that opens up to a "letter" which starts out "Dear ____________." The first time I read it and added my children's names in, they both sat up a little straighter and their eyes got bigger! The letter goes on to make the Bible account applicable to the child's life and shares how they can also have what these Bible characters and heroes had because God gave them the courage, strength, protection, etc. and He will give them those things as well.

The words are beautifully written and stand on their own quite well, but there is truly nothing like a well-written book with beautiful illustrations. Sophie Allsopp has done a superb job in her illustrations. This is an example of illustrations being beautiful enough to stand on their own, yet support the words in every way.

I am so glad that I was able to review "Love Letters from God: Bible Stories." It is definitely one book that we will be keeping in our library for years to come.

You Have Been Invited! | A Review

Are you looking for a book that is filled with Scripture for your children? I recently reviewed You Have Been Invited! by Brian Howell at Christian Children's Book Review. Come by and check out this great book!

Jump! | A Review

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Jump by Julia Dweck is a beautifully illustrated, colorful adventure that is guaranteed to get your child to jump out of their box and into the world of adventure that awaits them.

Jack loves popping up out of his box, and then going right back down into it. One day, Jack's spring breaks, and he is flung out of the safety of his beloved box. Yet, despite his initial fears of being out of his comfort zone, he finds so many different ways to jump- ways that show him that life is full of adventure, as long as he is willing to jump!

I think my favorite line in the entire book is "to think outside the box, first take a leap of faith and trust!"

If you have read any of my reviews from Christian Children's Book Review, you know that illustrations are a huge selling factor for me, especially since I have an almost 3 year old, non-reader. Pictures help tell the story for him. The illustrations in this book are fantastic! I love Brian Allen's style of illustrating. The colors are so bright and vibrant, and the drawings are clear and relate directly to what is being read. I loved each and every illustration.

At the end of the book, there are some extra pages which are a wonderful addition, especially for elementary aged children. The first is a fact page of animals that jump. The next page is a scramble game which takes words from the story, scrambles them up, and the child has to unscramble the words to remember the places that Jack jumped.

The last page is my favorite. the author, Julia Dweck, guides children through a series of questions and answers in writing their own fictional story complete with characters, settings, characters, and a plot.

She has two more books in the works, and I look forward to reading those as well. Right now, through Amazon, you can purchase the Kindle version of this book for $1.99! A great price for a great book!

Mary & Martha ABC Magnets

I think it is safe to say that most of us have a refrigerator.

And for those of us us that have children, those refrigerators get covered in art projects, simple drawings, and assignments that gave been well done.

For me, finding magnets to hold all of these treasures has always been a challenge. In general, magnets just do not appeal to me. Until......

I was sent a box of Mary & Martha ABC Magnets.

These rectangular magnets are strong enough to hold the construction paper and card stock crafts my children bring home from Sunday school, yet pretty enough to be displayed on their own.




Each magnet has a character quality word that begins with that particular letter of the alphabet along with a simple sentence using the word. For example, "H" says "helpful" and "Use your hands to help others."

These letter magnets are great to use with young children who are learning their alphabet. Not only can they learn their letters, but they can also learn a character quality at the same time.

Another way that I have used these magnets is lining them up to spell a family member's name, snapping a picture with my phone, and sending them the photo. It has brought encouragement and joy, and the reply text was always so appreciative.

These magnets retail for $22 for a box of 26 magnets (one for each letter of the alphabet). The magnets are fairly thick (not cheap flimsy magnets with a vinyl covering) with the letter being mounted on several layers of thick paper that have been glued together to keep them sturdy.

Sheila from Mary & Martha has generously offered to give a set of these magnets away here on my blog! To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nan's Journey | A Review

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I was recently part of a review team for a series of Western based Christian novels by author Elaine Littau. Honestly, I am not big on Christian romance novels. Since getting married and living out my own love story, I have not had an interest in reading anything that might have a romantic twist to it. However, Nan's Journey had quite a different affect on me.

Nan is a fifteen year old girl who has had a hard life. Her father passed away when she was quite young and her mother remarried a horribly cruel man. Not long after, Nan's mother passed away leaving Nan and her brother at the mercy of their step-father and his new wife. Nan experiences a number of life changing moments- almost losing her 6 year old brother to the internal poison of a festering wound, being accepted unconditionally by a beautiful couple who know God's love and want to share it with Nan and Elmer, meeting a young preacher who has lost the love of his life, being assaulted by some mountain men, becoming pregnant because of the traumatic experience, and marrying the young preacher who wants to save her reputation during a time when an assault on a woman was considered her fault.

One of my favorite parts of the story was the way the author wove in aspects of the Gospel based on the experiences that Nan had lived through. For example, the story begins with a beating Nan received at the hand of her step-mother. Nan took this beating in order to spare her younger brother the beating that should have been his. The author uses one of the characters to explain to Nan that the same way she took the beating for her brother, Jesus was whipped for our transgressions and took the penalty of our sins upon himself. At least four times throughout the book a direct connection was to our need for salvation and how one can receive it.

I am a busy mom, who has recently taken on a part time position at our church, yet I was able to finish this book in two evenings. The writing is wonderful- very much a story with a clear direction, yet with twists and turns that keep you at the edge of your seat. There is enough detail to let your mind picture the setting, yet not not so much that it takes an entire paragraph to describe one aspect of a room. There is a definitely a beautiful balance in Elaine's writing.

We were able to participate in an author's interview as part of this team. Here are some of the questions and answers that I think are the most applicable to this review.

Who is your favorite author? What books have influenced you most?

Living authors: Janette Oak and Francine Rivers. Those from the past: Grace Livingston Hill and Hilda Stahl.

Janette Oak’s Love Comes Softly series influenced me a lot because it begins with the start of a family and continues through the generations. I like that format. Hilda Stahl’s White Pine Chronicles had such unexpected twists and turns, I want to write like that.

Where did you get some of your ideas for a Christian Historical Fiction?

For Nan’s Journey the idea came while I was doing dishes one day. I remembered a scene from the television series, Gunsmoke. A teenaged girl had been severely beaten. Her back was bleeding. As a little child, I had never seen anything like that. My mind whirled. Who hurt the girl? How did she get to the doctor? What happened to her after she was treated?

I couldn’t remember how the episode ended so I sat with a legal pad and began to write Nan’s story. I spent a couple of hours writing and my sons got home from school. It was time to be a mom again. I put that legal pad up and dug it out several times in the seven years it took to write it.

For Elk’s Resolve I decided to write a sequel for Nan’s Journey while I still had some courage. My husband helped me brainstorm with ideas about how and when some of the characters would find one another. Many times, just before awakening, ideas of the next scene would go through my mind.

Luke’s Legacy was the book that left me in tears most of the days I wrote it. I think it is an emotional book. I find it interesting that this one is my husband’s favorite. I love the character called ‘Purdy’. She says what a lot of us would like to say but have been taught not to say.

The Eyes of a Stranger came to me as I was thinking about mail-order brides. My first thought was, “If someone ordered me, I’d be sent back for a refund.” The story went on from there.

Some of the chapters from Timothy’s Home came from something that happened when I was three or four years old. My nephew and I were playing with my teenaged brother’s twenty mule team model. Somehow it was broken. Fifty years later I found a model and began putting it together. The kit had a history and interesting facts about the mule team. I researched online and had to use this hard fought knowledge in a book. I don’t like to waste a bit of research if possible.

The Series was completed with those five books. I sort of thought I was through writing but…

Is there a message in your novels that you want readers to grasp?

Each book has an overlying theme, but the main thing each book carries is that God loves you. He has provided a way for you to overcome your struggles, and He will never leave you in your mess when you ask Him for help.

Nan's Journey (Nan's Heritage Series Book 1) is available for purchase through Amazon for $0.99 for Kindle.

The Tuttle Twins Learn About the Law

I was recently given the opportunity to read The Tuttle Twins Learn About The Law by Connor Boyack (http://connorboyack.com)

Here is a quick blurb about what the book is about.

Children are often taught that government protects our life, liberty, and property, but could it be true that some laws actually allow people to hurt us and take our things? Join Ethan and Emily Tuttle as they learn about property, pirates, and plunder. With the help of their neighbor Fred, the twins will need to figure out what they can do to stop the bad guys in government!

I personally enjoyed this  book. It was so well-written and so easy to understand that I could see how a book like this could help children understand our government, the way it is supposed to work, and, sadly, how it is changing.

The views expressed in The Tuttle Twins Learn About the Law are written from a Conservative point of view. As a Conservative parent wanting to find ways to explain the government and its workings to my children, I do hope there are more books to come with the Tuttle twins and their neighbor Fred. I think it is a great way to expose children to how the government works/is supposed to work, and it is written in a way that makes the complex world of government easy for children (and their parents) to understand.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the respect shown for adults by the children, and the wisdom shared from one generation to the other. Too many times in the books our children read and the shows they watch, kids are viewed as the intelligent ones and adults are made to look like bumbling idiots. This book portrayed respectful children having a great relationship with an older neighbor.

The author, Connor Boyack is president of Libertas Institute, a public policy think tank in Utah. He is the author of several books on politics and religion, along with hundreds of columns and articles championing individual liberty. His work has been featured on international, national, and local TV, radio, and other forms of media. A California native and Brigham Young University graduate, Connor currently resides in Lehi, Utah, with his wife and two children.

Purchase link: http://tuttletwins.com/buy

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions shared are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

Home Discipleship

I recently had the opportunity to read Home Discipleship: Much More Than ABC's and 123's by Kimberly Williams. What a profound, eye opening read it was for me as a homeschooling mom.

Before I go on, I believe that home discipleship can happen (and must happen) whether you homeschool or not. It is not limited to those who homeschool. Teaching our children about God's Word and how to live according to His Word is vital for our children to grow a relationship with the Lord and not fall away when they get older.

The purpose of this book, however, is to give homeschooling moms a reminder that our ultimate goal in homeschooling our children is not to raise scholars (although that is important). Our goal in homeschooling is to disciple our children while educating them so they will grow to be men and women of God who have personal relationships with Christ and will continue on in that relationship once they have left our home.

As a pastor's wife, Kimberly Williams has seen far too often teens "come of age" and fall away from the Lord. She goes on to share how our American mindset has caused this to happen far more in recent years than ever before in our nation's history. As she explains, many (not all) parents have been conditioned to turn over the responsibility of teaching and training their children. We have done this with the formal education of our children. It then becomes natural for us to turn over the spiritual training of our children to the church: Sunday school, youth group, children's ministers and youth pastors. God never sets forth a mandate for someone else to give our children spiritual training.


We have all heard the phrase from frustrated parents, "But I took them to church!" Kimberly Williams reminds us of the Biblical mandate to disciple our own children. Deuteronomy 6:1-7 continually references the family relationship as being the direct teachers for a child's spiritual upbringing.

"...to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life..."

"...and thou shalt teach them dilligently to thy children..."

"...and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house..."

Deuteronomy 6:1-7 was my mother's scripture for raising her daughters, and it has become my passage for raising our children.

Sometimes as homeschooling moms we become bogged down with the academics, making sure our children show progress in their end of the year test, and keeping them socialized that we forget the real reason we chose to keep our children home. Kimberly Williams' book is a great reminder that although academics are important, the discipleship our children must be our ultimate goal. As Matthew 6:33 states, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

99 Stories from the Bible

Before I share about the book I am reviewing today, I wanted to let you know that for the next few months I will be posting two to three times a week. God has brought an amazing opportunity for me and my family to serve Him, so until I have a handle on my responsibilities here at home and my new responsibilities, I will need to cut back just a bit. But I will still be here, and I cannot wait to share with you what God is doing in our lives right now.

If you want to be sure not to miss a post, please sign up to receive the posts directly to your email box or follow this page on Facebook. 

Today, I am at Christian Children's Book Review sharing about a wonderful Bible Story book called 99 Stories from the Bible. Come stop by!

Giraffes on a Cruise | Christian Children's Book Review

I really enjoy reviewing books for Christian Children's Book Review. I am sent so many wonderful books to read and review with my children, and there are some great little books that we discover along the way that become favorites. Today, I am reviewing Giraffes on a Cruise, a look at Noah's Ark from the perspective of the giraffes on board. I hope you will join me over at Christian Children's Book Review.

Christian Children's Book Review | Proverbs for Kids

Today, I am reviewing a wonderful book called Proverbs for Kids by Agnes and Salem de Bezenac at Christian Children's Book Review. I fell in love with it while reviewing it. It think you will enjoy this book.

Story of the World | A Review

We have recently completed our 1st grade year. At the end of any school year (whether I was in the classroom or homeschooling), I have always taken a step back to evaluate what worked, what didn't, and what I needed to change for the following year.

As you saw from last week's post, we will be continuing First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind in second grade. However, something we will be changing is our approach to history (more on how we will be doing this will come in the next two weeks).

This year we used The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor along with the accompanying workbook. There were definitely pros and cons to this book for me. In fact, there were more pros and only one issue for me. But for me and my preferences, the con outweighed the pros.


Pros:

Addie loved it! 

When you have all of your school books laid out and your child chooses history as the first subject they want to work on, you know the book is great in terms of keeping their attention. The book itself was thick and had 42 chapters with very few illustrations. There was a lot of reading, but my daughter (who started the year as a five year old and turned six in February) loved it.

Geography became a familiar friend.

We have all heard of the statistics of Americans not knowing where the USA is on a world map.
That is not an issue with this approach. Geography is a daily exercise. Depending on which portion of history you are learning, your geography will center around that region for the entire year. The maps have different tasks to be completed, and crayons are usually involved making for a fun approach to learning the geography of the region being studied.

Shorter segments of history.

As a teacher in a classroom setting, our history books every year began at Creation and spanned time by ending with Reagan and the fall of communism (the books definitely needed to be updated!). With any curriculum using a classical approach, small chunks of information are used for one year so the child can really grasp the concepts and information being given.

This past year, we only learned about Ancient History from the Nomads to the fall of Rome. I loved this approach because we were able to really focus on specific historical events and people. That is where the real learning comes in. Just remembering dates and names means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Learning from the times and people, from their mistakes and triumphs, and connecting the dots from an event from history and how it has affected our present, that is where learning truly happens.

Narrative form

The book is written as if  a story was being told. That type of approach is very engaging. Not just for the reader, but for the listener as well. For me personally, if you tell me a story, I am more likely to remember what I heard than if you gave me the same information in a very clinical, factual way.

A few weeks after we had finished history for the year, my father was visiting and we were talking about the movie "Braveheart," a historical movie based on the life of William Wallace, a 13th century Scottish warrior who led the first Scottish war for independence again England (very graphic in battle scenes and we skip over the entire wedding scene- NOT a movie for children). There were certain details in the movie that I had been unaware until reading The Story of the World were actually historically based details, such as the warriors painting themselves blue. While my father and I were talking about that particular fact, Addie who had overheard us talking about "blue paint" came over and explained to Dad why the men from Britain had used blue paint on themselves in battle against the Romans based on what we had read when Rome invaded Britain. I was amazed that she still remembered that after several weeks.

Another time, after studying Egypt, my father had gotten us a DVD about Egypt that featured many of the places we had learned about, including tombs of the pharaohs. As they showed different tombs, one tomb shown was for the only woman pharaoh of Egypt, Hatshepsut. Addie got so excited and said, "Mom, it's the tomb for Hatshepsut, the lady pharaoh!" She would never have remembered anything about this obscure woman had it not been for the intriguing story of her life and how she took the throne away from her only brother.

It is designed to be a spring board.

The workbook has a teacher's guide section at the front of the book. In this section, parents are given ideas on how to turn each chapter in to an entire unit of study from arts and crafts to which books should be borrowed from the library or bought in order to read in more depth about the people, civilizations, and times currently being studied. 

Con:

Too liberal in its approach to history

This negative comes from my worldview. As a Christian, God's Word is the lens through which I choose to view the world and the choices I make.

God's Word and the aspects of history that we learn from His Word took place in what is considered Ancient Times. Yet, the author of The Story of the World inserted these moments in history as mere hiccups and gave no authoritative credibility to the Bible. It was given the same, if not less, credibility as any other book of history. (From my understanding, the author is considered to be a Christian, which is why I chose this book.)

When great Biblical historical figures such as Abraham, Joseph, and Moses were talked about, the Bible (where their account comes from) was not even treated as though its account was completely accurate. Part of Abraham's account was even taken from documents other than Scripture- causing him to appear different than how God's Word portrays him. At those times, we would just close the book and read God's account of these men.

There were many times when a historical reference was made that I would have to connect the dots to God's Word on my own because the connection was not given in the book (for example, when we learned about Cyrus, I had to show his connection to God's people on my own).

With as little as God was mentioned and as little credibility He was given, I found it disturbing that the gods of the civilizations we were studying were given so much "time" and so many mythological stories were written. We skipped these.  

The curriculum we will be using this coming year takes the approach that history fits into God's timeline. They do recommend The Story of the World as a supplement to their history if more background information is wanted, but it is not the foundation for their history. I am looking forward to sharing with you what our upcoming school year will look like.

Do you use The Story of the World? Do you like it? What do you like about it? What don't you care for about it?

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons | A Review

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I was not supposed to be the one to teach my children how to read.

My mother was.

I had never taught anyone how to read before. As a 4th and then 5th grade teacher at a private Christian school, my job was to teach reading comprehension and how to develop critical thinking skills while reading a passage.

My mother had taught me how to read by the time I was two and a half years old using SRA DISTAR by Siegfried Englemann., which my father's cousin, a New York public school teacher, had given her because her school was throwing it out. I remember the spiral bound books and games my mother would play with me using the books. Sadly, Mom passed away a couple of weeks before Addie was born, so I had to come up with a new game plan.

Right before Addie turned one, I saw a commercial for the Your Baby Can Read series. I bought it, and faithfully sat with Addie every day to watch the videos, play the games, look through the books, and review with the flash cards. Within 6 months, she did learn to recognize what each card said, but she was unable to translate her knowledge outside of the cards, videos, and books. (The series is no longer available for babies- it is available for kids, though. Instead there is now a series called Your Baby Can Discover. I personally do not have experience with this product.)

We began watching the LeapFrog: Letter Factory and in no time at all Addie began recognizing her letters and the sounds they made. By the time we began Kindergarten, she could read small words. The curriculum we were using at the time (Christian Liberty Academy Satellite Schools) had a reading program that required a lot of writing. She became frustrated and reading became a dreaded subject for us both.

Mid year, I switched her over to A Handbook for Reading, Phonics Textbook (A Beka Book Reading Program) which gave her the phonics foundation she needed. The pages had colors and fun pictures and the words were grouped in easy to read sections. But she still had no confidence in picking up a book and reading it.

Frustrated with reading and having passed my self-imposed timeline for teaching my daughter how to read, I began asking my father if he remembered which reading program my mother had used with me. After a few phone calls and emails back and forth he remembered the initials SRA. I began researching and discovered that the program my mother used for me was still around, just under a different name- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I ordered it and began working with Addie as soon as it came in.

The lessons are designed to be 20 minutes long- perfect for little ones who have short attention spans. Each lesson covers more than just reading. Children are taught to sound out words by "saying it slow" and then reading words by "saying it fast." They also learn the concept of rhymes and how to make up rhyming words through daily oral exercises. They are also taught how to write the letters they are learning to sound out in each given lesson. Sound blends like "th" and "ch" are visually attached to teach children how the sound works.

Lessons are taken in small steps. For example, the first two lessons only teach the sounds for "m" and "s". The type for the sounds to be read is nice and large making reading less intimidating for children. (This had been Addie's biggest issue. She would only read books that had large type in them because she was afraid of reading small type words.)

As the book progressed, I found myself splitting lessons in half. They can be a bit intense the further into the book you get. I had to remind myself that the goal was for my daughter to be able to read with confidence and understanding- not finish the book in 100 days.

One particular thing I loved about the book was that as we reached the last quarter of the book, the type gradually became smaller as the stories became longer. Addie never noticed the size change.

The evidence that she could finally read above her grade level with confidence and speed came one evening as I was preparing to review her Awana verses with her. I opened up to what I thought was a new verse, and she responded, "Oh, I already know that verse." She then began reciting it to me complete with reference. I asked how she had learned it, and her answer was, "I read it, Mom."


Recently she picked up our copy of Now We Are Six and read it in two days. I wasn't sure about her understanding of the book, but when she told me about the poems she was reading, I knew she understood. I was curious to see what the reading level for Now We Are Six was, so I researched it online. I discovered that it is at a 3.6 grade reading level.

God gave me an incredibly smart child and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons gave her the skill and confidence to enjoy and love reading.

At this point, having enough books on hand for her is my biggest challenge.