Book Review: Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor

I recently received a copy of the fifth book in Chuck Black's Knights of Arrethtrae series Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor to review. My oldest daughter (13) has read two other books in this series and has really enjoyed them. I had never read any of them though and was eager to dive into this book and see what she liked so much about them. As always when I read a book that is not the beginning of a series, I am concerned that I will be a little lost or not understand fully what is going on. Not to worry in this book though. After a brief introduction talking about what the whole series is about, you jump right in and completely understand the book.

The story is about a young knight who makes a choice to leave his safe little world behind him and instead to become a faithful follower of the Prince. he knows it is not going to be easy, but really has no idea what things he will have to face. He faces a terrible tragedy and runs back to the only home he knows only to discover there is now something about him that makes him not quite fit in anymore. Despairing he begins to wander the kingdom trying to flee his past when he is offered a second chance to redeem himself. Can Quinlan reunite the Valor Knights in time to save the people from the Dark Knight's evil plot to rule the kingdom, or will they lose the most important battle of all.

There were many things I enjoyed about this book. The whole story was filled with suspense and intrigue and although the battle scenes were intense, it was not grossly violent. The main characters that are in this book show qualities that you want your children to read about. The plots of the Lucius were subtle and not what you would expect. I loved what Twitch said as he gave himself to the Prince and it's something we all can relate to. " I haven't much to offer my Prince for I am unskilled, ill-equipped, and unworthy. Yet I offer myself to you. If there is something more to following You, then show me and I will see. Command me and I will obey. Lead me and I will follow. If my feeble life can be used by You, I give it. I am Yours, my King and Prince." There are also discussion questions for each chapter in the back of the book that makes a great springboard for discussing this with your teen.

I finished this book during the course of one day. I could not wait to see how it ended. Highly recommended for teens and adults. I look forward to reading the other books in this series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation

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TOS Review: Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day

When the vender list came out to show who would be reviewing some different products from The Institute For Excellence in Writing, I quickly scanned the lists to see if my name was on one of them. I laughed out loud when I saw that I would be getting a DVD called, Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day. Does anyone think that this DVD might benefit me at all? Me? With 8,7,5 and 3 year old boys (and two girls.) I was very intrigued to watch this DVD and see what Andrew Pudewa had to say about the differences between boys and girls (other than the obvious) and how we can use this knowledge to do a better job teaching them.

Boys and girls were created differently, so it makes since that they will learn differently. In this 80 minute lecture, Andrew Pudewa talks about some of the big differences between boys and girls and how these differences will affect the way that they learn. He backs up his statements citing several credible sources. For example, did you know that it has been scientifically proven that boys and girls hear differently? Can you think of how this might affect the way that they learn?

Have you ever found yourself bored with a topic because it was not relevent to you? How many times have you tried to teach your child something they could care less to learn? It is much easier to teach your child something they are interested in. From the back of the DVD, "Children like to do what they can do, and they hate to do what they think they cannot do." Another fascinating part of this talk is the insight that is offered into ways you can create relevency for your children, not just in academics but also with life skills.

I found this DVD very interesting. Andrew Pudewa is a very intersting speaker and the lecture was packed full of useful information, not just to me as a homeschool mom, but as a person that works with children in many different capacities. It also explained quite well why it is normal for Alex to stand up and yo-yo while I am reading to him. Building up our children's emotional bank is VERY important and I found the reminder of how and why we need to do this a very important part of the DVD.

Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day is one of the many products offered by the Institute For Excellence In Writing. It is available in both DVD for $1o.00 and MP3 Format for $3.00. You can click here for a PDF file listing Books for Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day arranged by grade level.

I received a complimentary copy of this DVD for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation.

To see what other crew mates thought about this DVD and the Phonetic Zoo program click here.

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The Spirit of Giving

In the days before Christmas, there seemed to be quite a lot of conversation in the house regarding all of the things they were going to get for Christmas this year. I heard my almost 9yo refer to Christmas morning as "a truckload of free gifts." Hmmmm....we try very hard to make the children realize it is more important to give then receive and it is much better to share with others than to worry about all of the things you are going to "get" for Christmas. I try to have them involved with helping with community service projects like the Salvation Army Christmas Tree, food drives, etc..but it seemed as though this year we forgot all of those things in the light of what they wanted. Now, I understand completely children being excited about Christmas and getting presents. It is exciting and a lot of fun, but I don't want that to become their whole focus on Christmas and have them forget why we even celebrate. We had a lot of long talks about giving and doing kind things for others. Most of the children said they couldn't "give" because they had no money, so we talked about different things we could do to be kind to others without having to spend any money. We went over the bible verses about the birth of Jesus and the kindness of the innkeeper to let them sleep in the stable. You wonder sometimes though how much of what you are saying sinks in, or would we go right back to the "all about me" Christmas focus. I got my answer the day before Christmas Eve.

Nicholas ran into the kitchen and grabbed several brown paper bags. He turned each of these into gift bags for each person in the family. In each bag he took something that belonged to him that he knew the other person would appreciate and gave that item away. For example, he gave Lily some sill bands, Alex some army men, and me a New Testament Bible. Then when the other boys saw what he was doing they did the same thing for each member of the family. Anthony even took a picture of his Nana and Papa and made a paper frame for it to give it to Christian. It really touched my heart to see the boys putting forth that effort to be a giver and not just a receiver at Christmas.

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

So I have spent the last several weeks trying to explain to Christian (3) that it doesn't have to snow to be Christmas (even though it always is snowing in Christmas movies on TV) and that where we live it hardly ever snows at all and we have a 50 % chance of flurries tonight. IF it does snow, it won't be anything he can go out and will probably be after he is in bed. We have spent the day baking cookies and watching Christmas movies. The children were up very early and are very hyper and it's pouring down rain outside so they are stuck inside. I still have to finish some cinnamon rolls,bake a cake, and let the children wrap some presents for daddy before supper so I better get off the computer. I wanted to take a minute and tell everyone to have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy the special time you get to spend with your family or friends. I pray that all those who are traveling will arrive at their destinations and back home again safely this year!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

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Wrapping Up Schoolwork for Christmas Break

The public schools here got finished last Thursday, so my kids were grumbling a bit about having to work this week. I reminded them that we don't follow the public school schedule and if they wanted to we would start and work 5 days a week for 6 hours a day. They like my schedule better :). The reason we continued to work this week is that we are taking a few days off the week of New Year's to go see my mom and dad for "Christmas." Nick and Alex decided that they wanted to get all of their work done Monday and Tuesday, so they doubled up and got it done. Chelsea had a bit more to do, but all she has left to finish up today is a book report. This is what we have been working on for the last couple of weeks:

1,3 (with some 5 and 3 yo tag alongs)

Bible-Enjoying God's Gifts-review to come soon
Math-Abeka - Alex is measuring and adding and subtracting. Nick is multiplying and dividing with remainders. Nick is having a bit of trouble with remainders. His mind wants every Math problem to come out evenly.
Math Facts Now-review to come soon
Times Alive-review to come soon
Handwriting-copywork
Reading-Abeka reading program for 3rd grade, Dr Seuss for 1st grade
Science-Abeka 3rd Grade Science I'm planning on taking a break from this for awhile and doing a lapbook from www.homeschoolshare for a few weeks. Topic to still be decided
History-We just finished up Time Travelers Revolutionary War CD and completed our lapbook. In January we will start using Abeka's 3rd grade History
Spanish-Speekee TV-review to come soon

9th grade

Home Ec-sewing project completed-cooking next semester
Math- Algebra -Tenmarks (review to come soon)
Bible, Science, Geography, Literature, Spanish-Abeka- Truthfully not my favorite curriculum, but it was free and Chelsea really likes it which is important
Every other week we pick a book off of Sonlight's reading list and do a book report. next semester Chelsea will pick a topic for a research paper. She really needs more practice on long term projects and managing her time.

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Christmas Day Dessert: A Birthday Cake for Jesus

This week in my Menu Plan Monday post, I mentioned that for our dessert Christmas Day we have a Happy Birthday Jesus Cake. I got several comments and questions about it so I thought I would write a quick post. I don't even remember where I originally got this idea but I have been doing this with the children for the last several years and it's a simple little thing you can do to put the focus of Christmas back on Jesus and have fun with your children. It can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. Make a cake from scratch or using your favorite recipe. The size and shape is up to you and depends on how many people you are feeding. Sometimes I use my heart shaped cake pan, but usually a 13x9 suits us the best. The children help me make, frost, and decorate the cake. They love sprinkles so it usually gets quite a few of those. We write Happy Birthday Jesus in gel icing and "draw" star and present shapes on the cake (that's what they are supposed to be anyway.) I'm sure many of you are much more creative than I am and can elaborate on this idea and make it your own. However you decorate your cake have fun and enjoy the Christmas season with your family.

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23 NIV

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28 Week Pregnancy Update

So today I had my glucose tolerance test. Thankfully my hubby is on vacation because I knew I would have to be there for awhile (you have to wait an hour after drinking the tasty drink before they can draw your blood) and I didn't want to have to take all the children with me. Drinking the sugar drink usually makes me feel very sick but it was not too bad today, and I only had to be stuck once which is always a good thing. Blood pressure is great, baby's heartbeat is strong and she is measuring perfect for 28 weeks. I even gained 6.5 pound making my total weight gain 16 pounds (I told you I would put on a few extra over the holidays.) They now want to see me every 2 weeks. I asked the doc why so soon and she said she follows the recommended scheduling for pregnant women. I honestly don't remember this starting so soon even when I had Lily. I told her I am not trying to be difficult but it seems a little silly to me to drive up there every two weeks to get my weight, blood pressure, and baby's heart checked when I am in perfect health. She said I could push the next one off for 3 weeks but then need to come every two. I still think that is an awful lot of unnecessary doctor's appointments. I guess I shouldn't complain and just be thankful for the good reports.

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