Review: If He Had Not Come

My children and I have started to notice the first signs of the Christmas season appearing in local stores.  The holiday catalogs are finding their way to our mailbox.  The kids are beginning to ask, “When will it be Christmas?”  Ready or not, Christmas will be here before we know it!  It’s time to prepare the house – and, more importantly, our hearts – for the Christmas season!

One thing that my children & I truly enjoy at this time of year is bringing out our stack of Christmas books, reading a few of them together each day during the month of December.   We have traditional classics, silly stories, and beautiful Christ-centered Christmas books.  I try to find a few new ones each year.  This year, we’ve added a new book to our collection, and it’s sure to be read often in our home!  It is called If He Had Not Come, and this thought-provoking tale has been brought to life for a new generation by David Nicholson.

David Nicholson first heard this story almost thirty years ago in an adult Sunday School class, and the story has stayed with him ever since.  He shared it with his family each year at Christmas time, and he felt led to republish this story.  It’s been 55 years since If He Had Not Come has been in print!

This beautifully illustrated tale shares the story of a little boy, reading the Bible with his dad on Christmas Eve and focusing in on the words of John 15:22.  “If I had not come…”, the verse reads.  The little boy goes to sleep with these words heavy on his heart, and he wakes to discover what Christmas would be like if Jesus had not come.  The story is simple, yet complex, all at the same time.

The church is now a vacant lot. The hospitals and homeless shelters have disappeared.  The Christmas decorations are gone.  People are grumpy and rude.  There seems to be no hope, no joy.  The Bible ends with the Old Testament.  It’s a bleak picture.  And on each page, we see the words, “If I Had Not Come…”.

But it doesn’t end there, of course!  The story comes to a close with the little boy waking up in his own bed, hearing Christmas carols and celebrating that Jesus DID come!  His dream is a vivid reminder of what Christmas is REALLY all about!

When our package arrived in the mail, Jensyn (3) was the first to notice that I was opening a new book.  Our little book lover immediately reached for the book and ran to the big, comfy chair to wait for me.  I read it to her without hesitation, but knowing that the book is intended for children ages 6 and up.  She sat and listened to every word, but at three years old, she didn’t get the full value of the story.

Several days later, I read the book to all three of our children.  It was interesting to notice how each child reacted to the story at their own level.  Alex (6) and Max (5) seemed to understand the story quite well, and Jensyn (3) enjoyed hearing it again.  The children were caught up in the story, waiting to see how it would end.

Jensyn  was quick to point out when the Christmas tree disappeared, and she is able to make the connection that no Jesus means no Christmas.  Max  listened intently, but he didn’t have much to say while I read.  He simply took it all in.  Alex frequently pointed out details he noticed on the pages, and he commented on several pages throughout the story.  Several times throughout the story, Alex said, “But this is just a dream, right?  He’s just dreaming, isn’t he?”

After we read, the children wanted to flip through the pages again to look at the illustrations.  All three children pointed out details in the pictures.  Then I took the book back, flipped to the discussion questions in the back, and picked out a few questions for a casual discussion with my kiddos.

Some of the questions are a little too detailed for my young ones, but it was fun to choose a few to which they could related.  For example, “Put yourself in Bobby’s place as he walked into his living room…” or “When you hear someone calling for you to get up on Christmas morning, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?”  These questions led to some interesting discussion!  (Max, who had been quiet during the story reading, was vocal now!)

As we enjoy re-reading this book - throughout the season  and throughout the years – the discussion questions will become more interesting as my children grow.  This is definitely a book that will be read often this year and in the years to come.  We are so blessed that Mr. Nicholson has shared his book with our family!

The illustrations in this book are simply beautiful, the story is captivating and thought-provoking, and it is wonderful reminder of what Christmas is truly all about.  If you are looking for a new book to read with your children in this Christmas season, I would highly recommend If He Had Not Come.

If He Had Not Come is best suited for children age 6 and up, but this story is a wonderful tale for all ages.  This 8.5x11” book is 40 pages in length.  This book is available here in hardcover for $18.95 or ebook format for $3.99.  

It would make a wonderful Christmas gift for your own children, friends, or grandchildren.  I can imagine this book being shared in a Sunday School class or Children’s Church program for elementary-aged kids.

Click on the image below to read the thoughts and experiences of other reviewers and their children as they read this marvelous Christmas tale!

 

Review: Go Science DVDs

I’ve mentioned before that I feel our homeschool curriculum is a little weak in the area of science, and I always appreciate the opportunity to try new science programs with my children.  Over the past month, my boys and I have enjoyed watching the Go Science DVDs (Series 2) from Library and Educational Services. 


These videos, which are designed to point children to their Creator God,  are recommended for ages 4 – 12.   Ben Roy, the teacher in these video segments, is an energetic man who really captured the attention of my 4 and 6 year old sons.  The videos are filmed with a large group of children, with Ben Roy involving the children through questions and participation in the experiments.


We received Volumes 4 and 5, as pictured below.  Volume 4 covers motion, friction, electricity, and light.  Volume 5 covers states of matter and water.   The videos are available for $8.97 each from Library and Educational Services.

 

You and your children can learn everything you need to know simply by watching the videos, but we also enjoyed trying many of the experiments at home.  For example, we really enjoyed trying the cornstarch and water lesson (Volume Five) that taught about non-Newtonian fluids and also shared the story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus. We tried it out at home, and the boys had a BLAST getting all gooey!

We also had fun watching as they made and sampled butter.  (Did you know butter is mentioned in the Bible?)  We’ve done this in the past, so we didn’t do it now, but it’s very fun to make and sample homemade butter!

I heard, “I wanna try this, Mama!” and “Mama, can we do that?” quite a few times as we watched the Go Science DVDs.  We have quite a few experiments to try over the coming weeks!  My kids are particularly excited to watch water ‘tightrope’ down a string!  (They would LOVE to try the video of the cornstarch oobleck in a stereo speaker, but Mama had to draw the line at that one!)

Each video runs approximately 1 hour, with over ten experiments per video.  Each experiment segment lasts from 3 – 10 minutes.  They are worded in a way that children can easily understand, and the children in the video help to keep my own children attentive to the videos.  (In fact, my children will even sit on the couch and answer Mr. Roy’s questions for the children in the audience!)

I love that Ben Roy is full of energy, and my children truly enjoyed watching these videos.  The videos do a great job of covering the topics, teaching children the basics, and sharing a brief message about God.  Mr. Roy explains just enough of the scientific principles to teach young children, but not so much that a young child is overwhelmed.

I really, REALLY wish that the videos came with a small booklet listing the experiments, materials needed, and general instructions for each project.  It would make it much easier to know what I should have ready to go when my children watch these videos.

Overall, though, I have no complaints with these fun videos.  My children are willing to watch the videos more than once, and they have a list of experiments that they’d like to try at home.  These are a great science resource to add to any homeschool curriculum!  What I most appreciated was that they are very well done science videos that INCLUDE GOD!

Library and Educational Services offers sample videos on their website, if you’d like to watch a segment.  Simply click on THIS LINK and scroll down to watch two video clips.  

(Pssst…if you’ve never heard of Library and Educational Services, you may want to check it out!  They offer their wholesale prices to homeschool families, as well a libraries, schools, and more.  The prices are very reasonable, and they have a great selection!)

To read what other reviews thought about the Go Science DVDs, click on the link below.

Review: We Choose Virtues

It has often been on my mind lately that we need to make a real effort to teach our children good manners and habits.   As my children grow, I recognize that they are picking up habits we don’t always appreciate.  We try to read stories that promote our values, and we try to set an example for our children in our actions each day.  We’re not perfect, though.  We have character flaws, and so do our children.  Character is something that our whole family needs to consider and PURPOSELY practice.

I’ve begun to desire something more to help my children pay attention to their behavior and work on improving their character.  We were recently given the opportunity to use and review the Parenting Cards from We Choose Virtues, and we are finding that this is a terrific way for the children (and me!) to focus on scripture and character.

What Did We Receive?

We received the Parenting Cards that I previously mentioned, and we also received a download bundle containing the following items:

• Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Book (PDF Download)

• Family Character Assessment  (PDF Download)

• Teacher's Handbook (PDF Download)

• Butterfly Awards for Kids (PDF Download)

• Sing-Along-Song Sheets (PDF Download)

The download bundle comes with a PDF Teacher’s Handbook designed for either classroom or home use.  One Review Crew member suggested to check if your printer offers a “booklet mode” printing option.  It will save you paper, and you will have a lovely double-sided booklet.  This was such a WONDERFUL suggestion, and it made flipping through the parenting guide so easy!

The parenting cards include 12 character traits and are sturdy, double-sided cardstock pages.  I did choose to laminate our parenting cards just to make them even more durable, but that certainly isn’t necessary.  We Choose Virtues has provided images of both the front and back of the CONTENT parenting card as an example for this review, which will give you a good idea of the information and activities you’ll use with your children.

The front of each 8.5 x 5.5 card is bright and colorful, perfect for displaying throughout the week.  It lists what the virtue IS, and the card also shares what the virtue ISN’T.  After this, you’ll find a Bible verse that matches up with the virtue.

The back side of the virtue card offers a family challenge for the week, a story about the child on the front of the card, a few activities to add some ‘life’ to your current virtue, and some other ideas of ways to discuss the virtue together.

How Did Our Family Use We Choose Virtues?

I began by asking my boys, who are 6 and 4, to complete the Family Character Assessment provided in the download bundle.  I decided that my daughter (3) was too young to understand how to evaluate herself with this form. 

For the evaluation, I printed one sheet for each boy.  Each virtue is printed on the page with a scale from 1 – 10.  I would hold up the parenting card for a virtue, read the quick description and Bible verse on the front, and then ask my boys to choose where they thought their behavior in that area fell on the scale.

I was pleasantly surprise to find that, though they are young, my boys really seemed to put a lot of thought into their answers.  They would think about it, circle it, think some more, and sometimes erase to choose a different number on the scale.  They would explain to me the reason for their selection.


I didn’t always agree with their choices, but I learned a lot about how they feel about themselves.  Alex tended to be more negative – rating himself lower than I would have chosen for him.  Max tended to be more positive, and a few times he rated himself higher on the scale than I would have chosen.  When I think about their personalities, I can see how their attitudes influenced their selections.

On Monday, we begin a new virtue.  Because this is the week when I took pictures, I will use KIND as my example, walking you through our Monday morning with the virtue of kindness.

The picture below shows some of the pages we worked with on this day.  I’m showing the picture below now (which shows how we’re displaying the virtue in our kitchen) as it shows you the coloring page (my 3 year old daughter’s finished product) and the song sheet.  This way, you can see what pages were are working with as I continue to describe our morning.

We began by giving each child a coloring page for the virtue of the week.  So on this day, each child received a coloring page showing a picture of “Kettle Gretel”.   Then, after naming the virtue listed on the coloring page, I read them the front of the Kindness parenting card.  We read what kindness IS and what kindness ISN’T.  Then we read the Bible verse at the bottom of the page.

After reading the front of the card, I read them the short story about Kettle Gretel found on the back side of the card.  After this, I set the card on the table so they could look at the front of it while they colored.

As they colored, I sang them the KIND song from the Sing-a-long-song Coloring Page.  (I also colored the page so it would be bright and cheery to hang in our kitchen.)  After singing the song twice, I asked the children to sing with me as they continued to color.  I also challenged them (using the challenge on the back of the card) to secretly practice kindness throughout the week.

Once the children finished coloring, we displayed their finished products on the kitchen cabinets near our table.  We also hung the parenting card and the song sheet so that we could see it often throughout the week. 

Our goal is to read the front of the parenting card and sing the song each morning when we eat breakfast.  This way, we are reminded each day of the virtue we are striving to practice throughout the day.

What Did We Think of We Choose Virtues?

I’ve heard wonderful things about We Choose Virtues on blogs and parenting forums in the past few years.  I was excited to receive this review and give this program a try now that my children are old enough to understand.

Honestly, I was a little unsure of how to get started.  It seemed like so little to work with, and I felt that the Teacher’s Handbook was suited to classroom use rather than home educator use.  Although the handbook did offer suggestions for home use as well, I’d like to see We Choose Virtues create a Home Educator’s Handbook in addition to the Teacher’s Handbook.

It took a little while for me to truly believe that what we’d received would be enough.  I wasn’t sure how to jump in and get started.  When we finally did get started, I was pleasantly surprised to see that We Choose Virtues parenting cards and download bundle are MORE THAN ENOUGH to make the program fun and valuable for my children.

My kids were SO excited to learn the names of the children featured on each card.   On the first day, after my boys completed the character assessment, my 6 year old happily flipped through each of the parenting cards, reading the virtue and the name of the child aloud for his 4 year old brother and 3 year old sister.  They all sat at the table listening to big brother, very excited to learn about each child.

As they color the virtue coloring pages, my boys work very hard to match the exact colors on the parenting card.   My boys don’t always care to sit and color carefully, but they take these coloring pages very seriously.  They really worked at doing their very best!

When Daddy came home on the night we’d completed our first coloring page, the children were VERY proud to tell Daddy all about Kettle Gretel and how she showed kindness to others by bringing them hot cocoa.

The character songs are easy to remember, and the cute names of the kids pictured on the cards are a good reminder to my children.  It’s so easy to say, “Are you showing kindness like Kettle Gretel?” or to sing the virtue song when my children need a gentle reminder to practice the character trait.

We are enjoying We Choose Virtues, and we will gladly continue to go through the Parenting Cards and virtues throughout the summer.  Actually, since there are a total of 12 virtues, I think it would be terrific to go through these cards each summer as a ‘refresher’!

Tell Me More…

We Choose Virtues Parenting Cards and Download Bundle are suitable for children ages 3 – 11.  We received the NIrV Bible verse version with verses from both the Old Testament and New Testment , but they also offer a KJV version with scriptures from only the Old Testament so that it is suitable for either Jewish or Christian families.  Both sets contain the same 12 virtues and activities; they just include different verses.

The Parenting Cards are available for $38.49, and the Download Bundle is available for $7.99.  From now through August, you can use Promo Code BTS20 for 20% off anything in the We Choose Virtues store.

We Choose Virtues also offers a Youth Journal program for older children, suitable for ages 12 – 18.  If you click on the link below, you’ll be able to read reviews of both the Parenting Cards and Youth Journal.

 

Technorati Tags: We Choose Virtues,character education

Review: Peter Rabbit Books from Kinder Kottage Publishing

One of my favorite things about being a mom is snuggling into a cozy chair with my kids to read a good book.  Though I don’t always stop what I’m doing when one of my children requests my attention, I will almost always take a little break from my tasks when I hear the words, “Will you read me this story?”

We recently reviewed two Peter Rabbit books from Kinder Kottage Publishing, and these have been a joy to read with the children!  My children thoroughly enjoyed (and are still enjoying!) The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Peter Rabbit at the Farm.

Kinder Kottage Publishing is a family-owned company, publishing books that help children to appreciate their western culture and learn more about literature, history, culture, and faith.  They have published this wonderful Peter Rabbit series, a Wizard of Oz series, and are currently working on a series of historical biographies for young children.

These books are tales of the same Peter Rabbit that you may remember reading as a child.  (Do you remember that mischievous little rabbit, always trying to stay just out of the grasp of Mr. McGregor?)  The stories in this collection were published by Henry Altimus Company more than ninety years ago, and Kinder Kottage Publishing has brought new life to this collection in bright, sturdy, hardcover storybooks.

Kinder Kottage Publishing recommends these books for children ages 3 – 9.  We have children who are six, four, and three years old.  These Peter Rabbit books appealed to all three children, and in the past six weeks, we have read the stories more times than I can possibly count.  My three year old loves these stories so much that she often takes the books to bed with her so she can ‘read’ them as soon as she wakes!  When I asked her if I could take a picture of her with her favorite Peter Rabbit book, she was happy to oblige:

As I mentioned above, we received two books to review.  Kinder Kottage Publishing offers a total of ten books in their Peter Rabbit collection.  We reviewed Book 1 and Book 2, but I’m pretty sure we also need to purchased the eight remaining stories.  All three of my children would LOVE to have the full collection!  (Who am I kidding?  I want the rest of the books just as much as they do!)

These books are about the size of a greeting card, which is perfect for little hands.  Each book is around 60 pages.  Since the stories are now public domain, Kinder Kottage was able to republish the stories and also modernize the text just a bit.  (For example, the word ‘bicycle’ replaces the original word ‘velocipede’ to make the story relevant to young readers.)

My children loved looking at the beautiful, full color illustrations.  I appreciate that the illustrations are the SAME as the original Henry Altimus versions from the early 1900s!  It really is rather special to see how the stories that appealed to children almost a century ago can still be enjoyed today!

We read these stories together again and again, snuggled together with all three children on the couch.  We giggled at the sheep jumping off of the hill, sympathized with a very wet Peter Rabbit when he hid in a full watering can, and cheered for Peter when he was able to help the geese refill their empty pond.

We read these stories at naptime, as my three year old settled into my lap for a little mommy time before falling asleep.  We read these stories whenever a child crawled into my lap or tapped me on the leg to say, “Mommy, will you read this?” 

And you know what?  Even with repeating these stories over and over for weeks, I am still not tired of the tales of Peter Rabbit!   There’s just something so captivating about a classic children’s story!

My oldest son, 6, is reading well enough that he is able to read the stories to his four year old brother.  The text is written with plenty of white space between each line, which keeps the pages from appearing too busy or overwhelming to a young reader. 

I’m sure that I’ve already made it abundantly clear, but we LOVE our new Peter Rabbit books and look forward to adding to our collection!

The books in this series are available for $4 each on the Kinder Kottage Publishing website.  You may also purchase the complete set of ten books for $30.  These would make a great gift for your own children or for a friend! 

If you order soon, you may use coupon code TOS to receive 20% off of your order!

If you’d like to read what other Crew Members have to say about Kinder Kottage’s Peter Rabbit series, click in the image below!

Special thanks for the wonderful family at Kinder Kottage Publishing for generously sharing these two wonderful books with our family!

 

Review: Golden Prairie Press

We are using a boxed program this year with Alex.  It covers Bible, history, science, art, and more.  Yet when Golden Prairie Press appeared in the upcoming reviews list for TOS Review Crew, I couldn’t get my mind off of this creative history curriculum! 


I knew that being accepted for this review would throw off a lot of things in our homeschool days.  With a boxed curriculum, many subjects are tied together.  Choosing to use Digital Heroes & Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum would mean that our Bible, science, art, and and a few other parts of our regular homeschool work would be set aside for a time as well.  Yet with the description and samples of Heroes & Heroines of the Past, I just couldn’t resist.


This program, written by homeschool graduate Amy Puetz, is designed for grades 1 – 6.   The complete curriculum, in either digital or print format, is $98.99.  You can easily combine children into this curriculum so that you are teaching multiple children at the same time.  It’s a very thorough program that covers not only American history, but also art appreciation, Bible memory, crafts and projects, cooking, and more.   The main readings are designed for third through sixth graders, but there are simpler history lessons for first and second graders.  Some readings are reprints of old stories, while others are written more recently. 

We received the digital version of this curriculum.  The main book (Heroes and Heroines of the Past) is divided into two large PDF files.   This book contains the daily readings, pictures of artwork that tie in with the lessons, teacher notes, maps, comprehension questions, project instructions, and more. 

Along with the main book, we also received the following items: additional materials PDF (timelines, printable activity PDFs, printable gameboard, mp3 files), historical skits e-book, Sing Some History mp3 files, and Listen To Some History mp3 files.  By adding in games, coloring pages, skits, songs, and audio readings, you’ve got a very multi-sensory curriculum!

If you have an iPad or other larger tablet, you likely won’t need to print the Heroes and Heroines e-book.  You could simply pull it up on your device!  My Kindle has a 7” screen, and I felt that the text was a bit small, so I opted to print one unit at a time for easy reading.  It prints nicely, with clear text and photographs, on 8.5 x 11 pages.

We aimed to use Heroes and Heroines of the Past three days each week.  There are a few weeks when (due to illness and a few other unexpected events), we only managed two days, but we did our best to make it up by adding an extra day or doubling up for a day the following week.

Alex, my 6 year old, was our main review child.  Max, age 4, joined us for many lessons.  Jensyn, age 3, joined us for the activities when she woke from her nap.  Depending on the length of the reading and the accompanying project, we spent anywhere from 30 minute to 1 hour for each lesson.  (The lessons with hands-on craft projects are the ones that took an hour, as we were making playdough, building teepees, and taking time to create!)

While learning about the Native Americans, we built a broom and mop teepee –with rather wobbly construction, but that’s because my children took ownership of the project!  It would have been a bit more beautiful had we followed the directions precisely, but my children were happy with it!

We made play dough canoes in our teepee when reading about how the
Native Americans used natural resources to make what they needed.

Kids are also encouraged to use their own resources and imagination
to create a paper feather or a simple bow and arrow.

   

We crafted play dough viking ships when learning about the vikings.
The book gives clear instructions for making playdough,
and it also offers several images of what your completed project should look like.
This was probably the favorite project for my boys!

We tied together a blanket hammock when learning how the sailors may have slept on the ships while travelling to America.  (There’s a stuffed bunny sleeping in our hammock!)

Even though we’ve read about Columbus before, I learned some neat facts about Columbus’ son that I’d never heard before.  These stories are also appealing to children, as they realize that even young ones can have an impact on history! 

There are more challenging projects, including writing projects and timelines, that would be great for children on the older end of the age range.  Because of the young ages of my children, we didn’t focus on these resources, although we did discuss some of the writing questions when I felt they were age appropriate.

Each five lesson unit contains a memory verse, which is to be copied on to an index card and reviewed each day throughout the unit.  At the end of the unit, the verse is to be recited.  As you store your index cards throughout the year, you’ll end up with a great collection of Bible verses committed to memory!  That’s something to treasure!

Because my son is still a beginning reader, we opted not to do much with the skits.  It’s a little hard to put on a good skit with a beginning reader and two non-reading preschoolers.  I’ve read through several of the skits, and these would be fun with older children or in a co-op setting.

The audio history readings were a little tough for my small kiddos to understand, but these would be a great resource for older students.  The Sing Some History files are PERFECT for younger learners.  Even my 3 year old enjoyed listening to these!

I am truly impressed by all the time and effort that Ms. Puetz put into writing this curriculum.  You can tell that she poured her ALL into this program!  It is a WONDERFUL, multi-sensory, FUN approach to teaching American history and weaving it together with other skills such as art, music, and cooking.  I would gladly recommend Heroes and Heroines of the Past to anyone looking for a fun year with their first through sixth grade children.  It’s an especially nice resource for families who are looking for a history core in which to combine multiple children!

Alex told me that other day that, “This history is really fun!”  He smiles and enjoys the activities, and he’s able to relay the main points of each lesson to me later, so I know he is retaining a basic knowledge from our lessons.  He is being introduced to art history and music, as well.  This review has been a good experience for him!

Both Alex and I have enjoyed this review time, and we will continue to use Heroes and Heroines of the Past as a reference during our studies of American history now and in the coming school year.  We will be returning to our regular curriculum, though, as our heart is truly there and we’re missing it.  Alex said the other day that, “School just doesn’t feel the same lately.”  He’s a very routine kind of kid, and though he has loved Heroes and Heroines, he is ready to return to our normal schedule.

We will hang on to this wonderful resource, and we will definitely be using some of the readings and projects along with our regular studies since it covers many of the same history lessons.  If we weren’t so attached to our current curriculum, there’s a very good chance we would continue to use Heroes and Heroines of the Past as our main history program for the coming school year.  It really is THAT good!

If you are looking for a hands-on, FUN American History curriculum for your children, Heroes and Heroines of the Past is DEFINITELY worth looking into!  Check out the website to read more, view samples, and even watch a video about Heroes and Heroines of the Past. 

You can also click on the image below to read more reviews: