Thursday, June 29, 2017

Precious Moments “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait” Figurine Review


I received this figurine free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Precious Moments is having two different special offers on separate dates. Starting on June 30th with a purchase $100 or more, you can select a free gift ($35.99 value) to add to your cart with the coupon code FREEGIFT17. Free figures to select from are the following: It's All Good!, Thanks For Being There, “Love You Lots!” Glass Bud Vase, Bisque Porcelain Figurine, Girl; and “Love You Lots!” Glass Bud Vase, Bisque Porcelain Figurine, Boy. Offer ends July 5, 2017 11:59 pm CT. Starting on July 7th you will get free shipping with a purchase of $75 with the coupon code SHIP4FREE17. This is for US residents only and excludes Disney Masterpieces. Offer ends July 12th. Don't pass these savings opportunities up!

I received one figurine called the “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait” Figurine. Made of hand painted bisque porcelain, the “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait” Figurine shows a young fisherman happily and comfortably waiting with his puppy dog for the "big one" to bite. He is relaxing the day away enjoying time with his pet, not a care in the world. I love the details of this figurine! The boy is wearing a fisherman's hat with lures and flip flops. His fishing pole has a fishing buoy float that is attached by actual fishing line to the pole. A smiling fish pops his head out the water nearby.

This is a unique gift for a loved one that loves fishing and the great outdoors. It is 4 inches high and can be personalized with with a loved one's name or initials. The pole does look like it might be fragile and is a bit flexible, so I hope it doesn't break. Perfect for Father's Day or any day that celebrates the fisherman in your life. I love this figurine because it makes me smile and reminds me of fond memories of fishing with my Grandpa and Uncle when I was little. This figurine is a great reminder to slow down and enjoy the simpler things in life and that patience is a wonderful virtue to have because good things certainly do come to those who wait.



BUY
You can purchase the “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait” Figurine on the Precious Moments website for $60.99.

6/30 – 7/5Free Gift with purchase of $100 or more.
Offer: Select 1 free gift, a value $35.99, with any purchase of $100 or more.
Coupon code: FREEGIFT17

7/7 – 7/12 – Free Shipping with Purchase of $75
Offer: US only. Excludes Disney Masterpieces
Coupon code: SHIP4FREE17

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Precious Moments for sending me this figurine for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

#PreciousMoments #LifesPreciousMoments #PatienceIsAVirtue #GoneFishing #FathersDay #Fisherman #Sportsman #DadsAreSpecial

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Wordless Wednesday Blooming Bulbs

Yellow Ornamental Onion "Allium moly" and a few bluebells.

Hewitt Homeschooling Grade 3 Lightning Lit Set Review


My family had the privilege of trying the student workbook and teacher guide from the Grade 3 Lightning Lit Set produced by Hewitt Homeschooling for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Hewitt Homeschooling was founded in 1963/64 by by Carl Hewitt and Dr. Raymond Moore. Their primary function has shifted from working with public education to now focusing on home education. Because of Dr. Raymond Moore's publications and books about home education this foundation became at the forefront of the homeschooling movement. They produce high quality curriculum that follows a balanced, flexible approach to homeschooling. Some of their products include: Lightening Literature, Unit Programs/Studies, My First Reports, Hewitt Readers, "Best" Literature, Math-It, Winston Grammar, State Chronicles, etc. They serve parents with students from kindergarten through high school.

The Grade 3 Lightning Literature & Composition Set is composed of just the Lightning Lit: Grade 3 Teacher Guide and the Lightning Lit: Grade 3 Student Workbook. You can instead purchase the Grade 3 Lightning Literature & Composition Pack w Book of Poetry that has all the books that you will need for your student to read as well as what is also in just the set. The books you will need with the workbook and teacher guide are: Sarah, Plain and Tall; Rickshaw Girl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Random House Book of Poetry for Children, Ramona and Her Father, The Big Wave, Charlotte's Web, The Wheel on The School, and The Tale of Despereaux. These books are all reasonably and affordably priced. Some are classics and others are new to us. The Wheel on the School, is currently out of print and is not included in the pack; but it is easy to find a used copy.

The Lightning Lit: Grade 3 Teacher Guide is easy to follow, clear, and thorough. It includes an introduction of how to use the guide at the beginning. It contains answer keys as well as a schedule of what to do in what order. This guide helps you teach Literature: Reading and Comprehension Questions, Book Discussion, and Reading Journal (summary of the story, story theme, feelings about the book in own words, and one favorite sentence to copy from the book); Grammar and Mechanics (these are in the workbook and includes: grammar, punctuation, capitalization, parts of speech, sentence diagramming, and occasional literary concepts), and Composition (writing or dictation depending upon level of child, includes: creative writing, essays of all sorts, research papers, poems, etc.) Extension and related activities are not required, but suggested for further learning in such subjects like: science, geography, history, and art.

The Lightning Lit: Grade 3 Student Workbook is a consumable workbook that contains instruction on grammar (including sentence diagramming), workbook pages, a reading journal, dictionary pages, and sentence puzzles. It is printed in larger print and has colorful graphics. The lessons are short and to the point. There are four days worth of workbook pages per week. You can use the fifth day of the week for make-up or the extra related activities. If you follow this you will easily have a complete literature, grammar, and composition curriculum for the whole standard 36-week school year.

Teela doing the Hewitt Homeschooling Grade 3 Lightning Lit Student Workbook and reading.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I used the Hewitt Homeschooling Grade 3 Lightning Lit Set with my daughter Teela who has just finished up third grade and is 9 years old. She is a strong reader and so these books are fairly easy reading and comprehension for her. She; however, is not as good with the grammar or composition so I got this for her to strengthen those. We also love to do summer reading programs and this has just fit into our summer reading quite well so far.

I found that the book selection was very appropriate. I remember reading some of these as a child myself and enjoying them. We started with Sarah Plain and Tall, moved onto Rickshaw Girl, and after that started Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was happy to have had some of the books in our library at home. The others I found online or will be checking out from our city library. Teela had not read Sarah Plain and Tall before, but I had. Both of us hadn't read Rickshaw Girl before and it was interesting learning about Bangladesh and their customs. Teela has read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory many times...it is one of her favorites.

We followed the 5 day a week schedule that was suggested. I had her read all these books to herself except Rickshaw Girl, which she read the chapters assigned and then I did after her. Then after the assigned reading she did the daily comprehension, assignments from the workbook, etc.

As I thought would be the case, Teela didn't much care for the grammar and mechanics parts of the lessons. Begrudgingly, she got through it though with some encouragement, but I believe she learned the concepts well. The sentence diagramming was not something that I remember from school, so I had to have a refresher to help Teela out with it. We both were glad that the lessons were not too long so she was not overly bored or exhausted by them. Her favorite parts were the reading, discussion, and creative writing.

Overall, I am pleased with the Hewitt Homeschooling Grade 3 Lightning Lit Set. It is a great English homeschool curriculum that can be personalized and tailored to the student. We liked how it was laid out and the flow of the lessons. We will be excited to read the other books needed for this set during the summer.

Follow Them on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HewittHomeschooling @HewittHomeschooling
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hewittonline @HewittOnline
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hewittonline/ @hewittonline
Google+: https://plus.google.com/118179952485411291615
Hashtags: #hsreviews #homeschool

BUY IT
The Lightning Literature & Composition Grade 3 Pack w Book of Poetry (comes with all the books, but one that is out of print) is $137.50. The Lightning Literature & Composition Grade 3 Set: Teachers Guide and Student Workbook is $71.01. Prices are accurate as of date of this post.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Hewitt Homeschooling...
Hewitt Homeschooling {Reviews}

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Thursday, June 22, 2017

Israel - God's Heart: Landscapes and Legacy of Israel Book Review


In the book, Israel - God's Heart: Landscapes and Legacy of Israel (Skypics Israel, November 2016), top aerial photographer Ron Gafni shares his love of Israel's beauty from above. We soar across skies to see stunning photographs of ancient ruins, historic sites, and view vignette's of Israel's modern lifestyles in this book that brings Holy scripture alive. Author Kathleen Barrett offers thoughtful narrative with Christian scripture pointing to God's redemption plan for the world.

My Thoughts:
This small hardback book holds many breathtaking photographs of scenic places in Israel. I love looking at the pictures and hope someday I can actually visit these epic places from the bible. I love the reflective nature of the author's words. They remind me of God's almighty plan for us and His infinite wisdom. This book, though small, is impressive and would be a wonderful coffee table book or conversation piece. I highly recommend it to all who would love to learn more about the Holy Land and have a captivating scriptural journey with gorgeous photos along the way.

You can learn more about the book by clicking here



BUY IT
You can purchase Israel - God's Heart and learn more about it here.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse Publicity for my honest review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series Review


My family had the privilege of receiving all five books in the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. We have been reading the Adventures of Rush Revere #1 New York Times Bestselling Book Series by Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh with our history lessons. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Rush Revere book series came to us in a blue ribbon.

Adventures of Rush Revere is a great historically based book series by Rush Limbaugh and his wife Kathryn Adams Limbaugh. This series is made up of 5 books so far and all have hardback covers. They go in this order: Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims, Rush Revere and First Patriots, Rush Revere and the American Revolution, Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner, and Rush Revere and the Presidency. These fictional books teach American History in a fun way with true facts, dates, events, and people interwoven through the text. The main characters are: Rush Revere, a seemingly typical substitute history teacher, his horse companion that talks named Liberty, and group of middle-schoolers from the Manchester Middle School honors history class. They are always up for adventure through time. Together they get to know history first hand. They meet some pretty neat people and experience some of America's great events, all while asking a lot of questions one might have about the journey. The books are geared towards ages 8-12, although older kids and kids at heart will enjoy these too. The glossy aged looking pages are filled with fun illustrations and historical photographs & documents all in vivid full-color.

Book Summaries:
Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims is about the pilgrims that crossed the ocean in the Mayflower in 1620 to escape religious persecution. It follows them to the New World where they brave their first winter and celebrate the first Thanksgiving. This book introduces Rush Revere, his horse, and two students (Freedom and Tommy) who travel through time to get the truth and answer questions surrounding these events. Meet famous people like: Miles Standish, William Bradford, Miles Standish, and several members of the Wampanoag Tribe such as Squanto, Massasoit, and Samoset along the way.

Rush Revere and First Patriots is about the people who were rising up against King George III because of his taxes in Boston in 1765. We learn about the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, the Townshend Acts, etc. and the Boston Tea Party & other events that happened just before the American Revolution. The books characters: Rush Revere, his horse, and three students (Freedom, Tommy, and new student Cam) travel through time to get the truth and answer questions surrounding these events. They also try to stop Elizabeth, another student in their class, from changing history. Meet famous people like: Benjamin Franklin, The Sons of Liberty, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Paul Revere along the way.

Rush Revere and the American Revolution is about the people and battles of the American Revolution around the year 1775. We learn about the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride & the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. The books characters: Rush Revere, his horse, and three students (Freedom, Tommy, and Cam) travel through time to get the truth and answer questions surrounding these events. Cam needs help understanding the true meaning of freedom to see why his father, a soldier, needs to be deployed oversees to Afghanistan and this trip will give him the understanding that he needs. Meet famous people like: Henry Knox, Dr. Joseph Warren, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock along the way.

Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner is about the nation's most iconic symbols. Here the Time-Traveling Crew take a field trip to Washington D.C. to distract Tommy from his anger and sadness about his ill grandfather, but then things go terribly wrong. We are whisked off to the year 1787 to see the Constitution and Bill of Rights, then a few years later to the year 1814 to read about a George Washington portrait being saved from fire at the White House and witness some of the Battle of 1812's major battles and the writing of the national anthem. Meet famous people like: James Madison, Dolley Madison, George Mason, Francis Scott Key along the way. Also a new member of the crew is introduced, a homeschooler named Maddie.

Rush Revere and the Presidency is about the first forefathers of America. When Cam decides to run for student-body president the crew go back in time to meet America's first three presidents and first ladies so that Cam can get a handle on how to be successful. We learn about elections, voting, leadership, and the early presidents. Meet famous people like: George Washington, Martha Washington, John Adams, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson along the way. With the help of a local congressman and Cam's friends he learns what it really takes to become a great leader.

Extras:
The website is jam packed full of wonderful bonuses! I love the Homeschool/Educational Depot because it has some great study guides to go along with each book. These can be printed out and saved. The website also has an Activity Depot that is full of fun games, activities and quizzes. Your child can also email the crew, apply for scholarships, and accomplish challenges. Feel free to look around because there is so much more to be discovered.

Teela and the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
My daughter, Teela, who is 9 years old read the first 3 books in the series so far. She told me that they are fun to read. She especially likes the antics of the talking horse and says he gets into trouble because he loves to eat. She can relate to the horse because she too loves food and thinks horses are great! We have three horses and a mini pony of our own...not talking, of course 😁 She says he also has another power besides creating time portals and talking, but she says she doesn't want to spoil it for me by telling what it is.

Teela reading Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims.

I love the fact that these books contain accurate history along with humor and science fiction. This is a bestseller book series for good reason. These are great for use with any homeschool or school American History studies especially with the study guides that are on the website. We love history and love the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series so far. Teela can't wait to read more of the books and we hope that this series doesn't end at book 5.


Follow Them on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rushrevere Tag: @rushrevere
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rushrevere Tag: @rushrevere
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFc9ZP_GpWdARuKAl08Wdw
Hashtags: #hsreviews #history #AmericanHistory

BUY IT
You can purchase these books from Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. MSRP is $19.99.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series...
Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series {Reviews}

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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Whistlefritz Spanish Educator's Collection Review


My family had the privilege of trying the Spanish Educator's Collection from Whistlefritz for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Whistlefritz is a great foreign language curriculum with videos on DVD, music CDs, lesson plans, matching cards, etc. Whistlefritz’s award-winning French and Spanish products teach children these languages using the immersion method. This means the child is taught by the exclusive use of the language by hearing and speaking only that language without translation. This is one of the most effective ways to teach a language.

The Spanish Educator's Collection from Whistlefritz is a wonderful Spanish curriculum for ages 1-7. This collection includes a lesson plans book, Spanish videos for kids on 5 DVDs, 3 Spanish music CDs, and some Spanish matching cards. These work together to provide a complimentary program that appeals to all types of learners.

Whistlefritz Spanish Educator's Collection.
  
The Educator’s Spanish Collection comes with:
  • Whistlefritz Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids book
  • Whistlefritz Ultimate Collection Spanish for Kids DVDs & CDs
  • Whistlefritz Spanish Matching Cards

Whistlefritz Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids is a 273 page book of 40 reproducible lesson plans. This manual doesn't rely on drills or memorization to learn Spanish. Instead, it uses a multi-sensory approach with projects and activities like: crafts, sorting, playing games, drawing pictures, coloring, etc. to go along with each lesson. This helps the child learn the language easier because they are actually learning by doing and making as well. The lesson plans start with the lesson number and title with: a short description of lesson, goals, objectives, vocabulary, materials needed, and time taken. Then it has activities and their: focus and review (if any), teacher input, guided practice, independent practice, closure, and extension activities. This lesson plan book also has over 50 flashcards and other pages to copy, print, and use for use with the lessons. This can be used as a stand alone lesson book to teach Spanish, but it does reference the other products in it as well for the some of the extension activities. These lessons build upon each other and come back to words and themes that were previously taught to reinforce the vocabulary. You can also find Translation Guides and extra Lesson Plans to download on the website.

Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids book and some pages. Zari with her puppet.

Whistlefritz Ultimate Collection Spanish for Kids is a compilation of 5 DVD videos and 3 music CDs. This educational and fun series is a blend of animation and live-action with Latin rhythms to get kids dancing and singing. These programs have fun characters: Maria, Jorge, Fritzi, and the rest of the gang that engage the learner with enjoyable themes, songs, and stories. It also features live, native-speaking adults and children so the child learning can hear the language spoken in complete sentences. This helps teach the structure and cadence of the language. The child learning the language learns the vocabulary by actually using it too. You can listen to a Spanish music sample here. The videos can be watched in any order, but recommended to be watched in order in which they were created if you have a child 3 and under and if you have a child older than 3, start with Adentro y Afuera, then circle back to the earlier videos. The videos were created in the following order from first to last: Los Animales, Vamos a Jugar, Adentro y Afuera, Las Estaciones, and La Fiesta de Fritzi. Each video focuses in depth on specific themes and vocabulary. All teach greetings, introductions, and numbers.

Some images from the Spanish DVD videos.

Whistlefritz Spanish Matching Cards are a set of 50 fun memory cards. These are made up of 25 cards with a match to themselves. These show a illustrated fox that has been drawn to be doing different commonly-used action words. At the bottom of each card is the action word or phrase in only Spanish. These cards introduce new vocabulary and reinforce words that are introduced in the DVDs, CDs, and Lesson Plans.

Zari found her first match!
  
How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I used the Whistlefritz Spanish Educator's Collection with my daughter Zari who is 6 years old. She knew a bit of Spanish from me teaching her at home. I had taken 3 years of Spanish in high school and so I remembered how to pronounce the words well, but I was still not as fluent as I would have liked to be. I am glad we got this program to try together.

We started watching the videos first. We started with Adentro y Afuera like they suggested. Even though Zari can't read yet, I still thought it best to turn off the subtitles so that it could be viewed without translation. We found that this video was about directional terms, rooms in a home, and foods. The lady named Maria was trying to find the animated mouse named Fritzi with the help of children and audience. She also showed foods by asking a dog puppet what he liked to eat...then later she asked a mouse puppet, and in the credits a horse puppet. They are educational, fun, entertaining and Zari learned quite a bit while watching. I loved all of these. They are very pleasant and can be watched over and over for repetition without being irritating.

After we got done with the videos she did some lessons out of the lesson plan book. The first lesson she did had an activity to make a paper bag puppet and then make it say phrases in Spanish about personal identity and greetings that she learned in the lesson. Each lesson takes about 30-40 minutes depending upon if you do all the extension activities as well. These lessons had great hands-on activities and Zari liked the projects and playing the games and seemed to learn Spanish better when engaged with making and doing something with the vocabulary.

We also tried the matching cards out. First we set them all upside down on the table and she flipped two over trying to match them. Since there were 50 cards total it took a while for her to finish finding all the matches. She had fun anyway and as she matched up two cards together I would tell her the action on the cards reinforcing the learning from the videos and lesson plans.

I highly recommend this foreign language program. We love Whistlefritz! The Spanish Educator's Collection is great for teaching Spanish to children ages 1-7. These programs are a wonderful multicultural homeschool curriculum for a child to learn to be bilingual.

Follow Them on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whistlefritz @whistlefritz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/whistlefritz @Whistlefritz
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/whistlefritz
Hashtags: #hsreviews #spanish #secondlanguage

BUY IT
Now you can purchase Whistlefritz Spanish Educator's Collection for $165.00! Save more than 20% (regularly $202.90) by ordering the Educator’s Spanish Collection of Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids + 5 Videos + 3CDs + Matching Cards!
Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Whistlefritz...
Spanish and French {Whistlefritz Reviews}

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Friday, June 9, 2017

The BeLOVED Life Travel Pillow Review and Giveaway



The BeLOVED Life™ by Mimi Tin is a great little online store that has travel pillows. These are great to take with you on-the-go! With seven designs you can pick from these have uplifting, encouraging messages of God's love. The fun appliquéd pictures are happy and bright. These pillows are plush, soft, and comfortable. They have an adjustable shoulder strap that comes with them to clip on to the loops of the pillow. This strap has a holder that you can place a cell/mobile phone, crayons or other small items in. The pillows have a pocket on the back to put the strap in when not in use or to hold a small stuffed animal, books, etc. Handmade Plush cover has zipper on the bottom and a soft poly insert. The pillow is size 16" x 16. Surface wash recommended. Comes with a bookmark hang tag with the verse and a short explanation, along with a "Shine" plush clip to share with a friend.

The BeLOVED Life PRINCESS Pillow

What We Thought:
We received The BeLOVED Life PRINCESS Plush Cushion Travel Pillow for Kids. This pillow is purple with a silver and white princess crown with a heart on one side and a Bible verse on the other that says, "I am WONDERFULLY MADE Psalm 139:14". I got this for my daughter Zari who is 6 years old because she loves the color purple.

Zari and her new travel pillow.

Zari immediately loved the pillow. She adored how cuddly it was and that she could put things into the pouch on the pillow. She also, of course, loved the color and the crown.

I thought The BeLOVED Life Travel Pillow was neat too. I love the inspirational Bible based message. It reminds me of how we are all Children of God and everything God created is exceptional and phenomenal. His masterpiece is you. The adjustable strap with shoulder pad is also cool because you can carry the pillow easily with it and it has a phone/small items holder. I now wish I had one of these too!

I highly recommend The BeLOVED Life Travel Pillow. These are perfect for kids, tweens, teens, and adults on-the-go! They would be great for taking to camps, field trips, sleepovers, play dates, long car/plane/train rides, Grandparent's house, etc. The messages on the pillows make everyone feel wonderful about themselves.
  
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BUY IT
You can purchase a kids Plush Travel Bible Verse Pillow from The BeLOVED Life™ for $34.99.

WIN IT
Prize: A kids Plush Travel Bible Verse Pillow from The BeLOVED Life™
Host: The BeLOVED Life™ and FrontGate Media.
Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.

The BeLOVED Life Blog Hop Giveaway


DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

God Loves Daddy and Me Book Review and Giveaway


I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

God Loves Daddy and Me is an adorable board book that uses fun rhyme and sweet illustrations to give a wonderful message of love and worth to its readers. This delightful book shows illustrations of a daddy racoon and his little racoon sharing the day's adventures together. It is a warmhearted tale about the tenderness of a dad's affection toward their child and how God loves them too.

What We Thought:
This lovely family-friendly bedtime story is a great book to snuggle up with your little ones with. We love the illustrations by Laura Watkins. They are just darling with fluffy, cuddly looking raccoons. The daddy and little raccoon go through the book going boating, building forts, taking walks, doing chores, acting silly, making s'mores, praying, hugging, and tucking in bed, etc. The relationship of the father with the little raccoon is beautiful. This book has a wonderful message and the author, Bonnie Rickner Jensen, weaves this message of a father's and God's love for us throughout the book. Each moment shown is something that children can relate to and are great to share together with Parents and caretakers.

Zari loves the book, God Loves Daddy and Me!

I recommend this board book for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners. My youngest daughter, Zari, who is in kindergarten loves this book! It is the perfect size for little hands to hold and the sturdy pages are less vulnerable to tearing. She is learning to read and it has the perfect amount of words on each page for her. She also loves looking at the cute illustrations as well.

This book celebrates the loving bond of a father with his precious child and the God who loves them both. It is a great reminder of the God's love for everyone. We cherish this book and its message of family. It would be a perfect gift for Father's Day.

BUY IT


WIN IT
Prize: God Loves Daddy and Me Book
Host: HarperCollins Children's Publishing and FrontGate Media.
Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.
Selection Process: 5 winners will be selected on 6/20/2017 and notified by email.
Where to Enter: Go to this link http://www.blessedfreebies.com/godlovesdaddyandme.html and fill out the form to enter.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Memoria Press The Book of Trees Review


My family had the privilege of trying The Book of Trees from Memoria Press for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces simple and easy-to-use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. It was founded by a woman named Cheryl Lowe in 1994. They currently have preschool through ninth grade in most of their curriculum and some through twelfth grade. They also cover subjects in: Classical Core Curriculum, Latin, Classical Studies, Christian Studies, Logic & Rhetoric, Phonics & Early Reading, Penmanship, Literature & Poetry, American & Modern Studies, Writing & English Grammar, Science & Math, Greek, Modern Languages, Educational Resources, eBooks, Special-Needs, and Art & Music. I have also heard very good things about their Latin Curriculum.

For this review Memoria Press sent us a set of their three books for The Book of Trees: The Book of Trees Reader: An Introduction to Botany Through the Study of Trees, The Book of Trees Student Book, and The Book of Trees Teacher Guide. These are geared towards 6-8th graders. We purchased the other two books, that are recommended by the vendor as reference materials for the main 3, separately that usually comes in the complete set of The Book of Trees: The Tree Book For Kids and Their Grown-ups and the Peterson First Guide to Trees of North America. You can purchase all of these books separately as well, but the first three are necessary as a set for doing this unit study. The last two are up to you to purchase as they are referred to in the main 3 books, but you can find all of the information that you need online on the internet for researching the topics.

The Book of Trees Reader is a softcover book that teaches about botany through trees. It contains 83 pages and 9 chapters total, with the last two being for advanced work. These are all short and thorough. The chapters cover: The Beauty of Trees, The Root System, The Stem, The Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, Observing Trees, Photosynthesis, and Respiration. This has black and white drawings and photos throughout to show things in more detail.

The Book of Trees Student Book is a softcover consumable workbook that teaches about botany through trees that is to be used by one student. The prologue of the workbook goes through and tells goals that should be learned by completing this workbook and a Model Lesson Plan that shows what should be done by the teacher and student. It goes by unit rather than by chapter and contains five units, the last being the advanced work unit. Each unit has two to five lessons each with a total of 21 lessons including the advanced work.  Each lesson under each unit has these sections: Reading and Questions, Diagrams and Labeling, & Activities. In between lesson 15 and lesson 16 there is a Tree Observation section that has you pick a tree and observe it, collecting specimens and studying it by answering questions, identifying it, doing some research about it, and sketching its parts. You can do this up to 15 times in the workbook. At the end of each unit is a review of that unit. Unit four has the final exam at the end.

The Book of Trees Teacher Guide is a softcover guide that helps the teacher. It is basically an answer key for the Student Book and follows the same outline as it as well. It has all the completed pages of the Student Book filled out, as well as answers for quizzes, tests, and exams.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

We love Memoria Press and their classical christian curriculum for our homeschooling! We have a bunch of their other studies and have found them all wonderful. We've been very blessed to have been able to also receive a number of their curriculum to review here.

The Book of Trees from Memoria Press is a great set for exploring botany with trees. My family loves trees and nature studies! This classical christian homeschool curriculum is fantastic! I love the content myself and enjoyed doing this with my third grader, Teela.

Teela is advanced in her studies and works on a 6th grade level on reading and writing so I picked her for this study. We had a lot of fun together doing this and did a lesson a week. Although the lessons are short and each lesson could probably be done in one day, we have other studies as well we are trying to get through and I didn't want to overwhelm her.

Even though we were sent just the mandatory products in the set I thought purchasing the two reference books would be a good idea. Not only would we have them when we hit a place where it told us to look up something on a certain page of each book, we would have them in our extensive homeschool library. Also, we found the Peterson First Guide to Trees of North America a great sized pocket field guide to take with us when we did nature studies on trees, went on road trips other places, or were out hiking. The Tree Book For Kids and Their Grown-ups is a wonderful tree book with lots of beautiful hand drawn illustrations in color. In fact it has been awarded the Garden Writers Association Award for Best Illustration. I am very glad I purchased these to accompany the main books. If you purchase the complete set of The Book of Trees from Memoria Press it will come with these books as well.

Teela reading The Book of Trees Reader.

We started out with the reading and would read the corresponding chapter for the lesson. Then she would answer the questions individually and ask for help if needed. I would check her answers that she had written down. Then she would do the diagrams and labeling later in the week after we had done some review. After that we would do the activities together and do additional external research. Then for last part of the week we would review again and have the quizzes/tests.

Memoria Press The Book of Trees Student Book

During our studies so far of trees and botany we learned about Plant Systems & Organs, The Root System, External and Internal Structure of the Stem, & the first section on Leaves. There is a lot of workbook work for this study with an abundance of writing and charts/diagrams to label. We like this because the reading seems to stick better if discussed and then written down.

One of the hands-on activities about roots

We, however; loved the hands on activities the best and wish there were more of these with the book work. We love going out into the field to study nature. Teela and I have been enjoying this study so far. There are so many trees we do not know about yet. We cannot wait to delve deeper and do the Tree Observations so that we can identify and learn more of the tree species right in and around our own neighborhood as well as many trees at Lake Sacagawea Park in Longview Washington.

We highly recommend The Book of Trees by Memoria Press! It is a great science curriculum that is fabulous to use for learning about botany and trees. I look forward to using other curriculum books from Memoria Press with my children in the future!

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