Homeschool Crew Review: Captain Absolutely

My 10 and 11 year old boys love super heroes and comic books.  We were excited to have an opportunity to review Captain Absolutely, a super hero comic book with a Biblical message, from Focus On The Family.

Captain Absolutely is a 105 page paperback comic book with thick glossy pages.  It originally was written for Focus On The Family's Clubhouse Magazine and is a spin off of their Adventures in Odyssey series.  This is not your typical super hero comic book. It deals with the difference between God's absolute truth  and standing up that truth in a world that believes that truth is relative.

In this story, Bibles are banned.  But after a library explosion, Josiah King takes cover in a room full of Bibles.  With nothing else to do to pass the time he starts reading.  What he didn't realize was that a radioactive core was leaking and gases were filling the room.  Captain Absolutely was born, a super hero that shared God's truth and protected Metropolitanville (a city with no sense of right or wrong), from foes such as Dr. Relative, Fear Chemist, Unifier, Baron von Confuser, Cap'N Crastin, Farmer Vile, Sloppy Joe, and Edward Snooze.  Later on he gets s sidekick.  Hana, a young lady who thought she was the last Christian helps Captain Absolutely. 

I read this comic book aloud to my 10 and 11 year old boys, splitting it up into several different days.  I am not a comic book person, but I knew this was something my boys would like and I wanted us to read it together.  They are not familiar with Adventures in Odyssey or Clubhouse Magazine so this was the first they have heard of Captain Absolutely.  They loved the colorful and eye catching graphics in Captain Absolutely.  We all loved the story.  I love seeing a comic book with such a positive message and no worries about any inappropriate content. Children will easily relate to the lessons in Captain Absolutely as they deal with situations we all are familiar with such as fear, loneliness, feelings of isolation, stories on TV being twisted, being drawn into the lair of distraction,  and more.  I also thought the section on personal hygiene was a nice touch.  Children will learn about different worldviews and how those beliefs impact how you see life. I love that there was Scripture and the Scripture references throughout the comic. 

Anthony 11, says , " I love that Captain Absolutely defends Truth, Justice, and lots more truuuth! My favorite part was the part in the library at the beginning turns into Captain Absolutely and when the people come in to rescue him they say, "It looks like he's here to rescue us!"

Christian 10 says, " I love that he quotes Scripture.  My favorite part is when he captures Dr. Relative, disables the Lirus and returns the stolen computers."

In the back of the book you will find a list of all the characters, their worldviews, other information such as super powers, inventions, tools, contraptions that the character uses, along with a description and a Bible verse that relates to that character.  I think that would have better at the beginning of the book, but I was very glad that it was included. You will also find a Big Questions section that you can use for a springboard for discussion with your children.

We would love to see more volumes of Captain Absolutely!


To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Homeschool Rescue

Are you a homeschool mom who is feeling burned out or like your homeschool needs a reboot?  Heather from Only Passionate Curiosity has a brand new course for homeschool moms called Homeschool Rescue that might be just what you need to get your homeschool back on track.

Homeschool Rescue is an online course for homeschool moms.  Each lesson has a video to watch plus downloadable homework assignments.  Purchasing the course gives you lifetime access to the content. You can work through the course at your own pace, or there is an option to join the Homeschool Rescue Facebook group and work through the course in a group setting that starts on June 1st and ends on July 31st. 

The Homeschool Rescue course must be purchased by May 31st for the summer session, even if you are going through the course on your own. The course will be offered again later in the year when  the FaceBook group works through the course again.  Cost of the course is $97 and includes lifetime access to the ecourse, 20+ videos, worksheets, audio files, group "live-course" experience from June-July, access to the Facebook community, and bonus planners.  You also have the option to spend $137 to have access to all of that plus three one on one coaching sessions with Heather.

The Homeschool Rescue course has five lessons with each lesson containing different modules. The first lesson starts with trouble shooting your homeschool and covers topics such as dealing with common homeschool struggles, finding a homeschool community, how to determine real goals for your children, and how to stop comparing your children and homeschool to others.  The second lesson discusses time management and organization and talks about why and how you should say no, where all your time goes, setting up your homeschool to be productive by designing a routine that works, and setting up your children to work independently.  The third lesson talks about curriculum and will help you learn how to troubleshoot curriculum choices, make your curriculum work for you, and stop putting off hands on learning for another time. The fourth lesson covers setting your students up for success and discusses topics such as teaching children to complete their chores and their school work, setting rules your children will follow, choosing consequences that will work for your children. and encouraging positive attitudes.  The last lesson is on teaching older students and talks about keeping open communication, teaching teens to pay attention to details, and time management skills.

I have been homeschooling for 12 years.  I have children ages 6-20.  My oldest graduated 3 years ago.  I am comfortable in my homeschool routine and not in a place of burnout or crisis.  But the Homeschool Rescue course still appealed to me when I was given an option to review it.  Why? I think that no matter how long you have been homeschooling or how much experience you have in something there are always things that can be learned that can help you make positive changes.  There are days that we all struggle and there are certain areas that are harder for us to deal with that we can use some help in. I am terrible at time management so that was one area that I was very glad to see that this course covered.  (I am also one of those people who have a terrible time saying no.  If you are too make sure to watch the video "No is Not a Dirty Word!") I have been working through this course completing a couple of lessons per week.

Using the course is very easy.  Once you sign up and have your log in and password you head over to the course homepage. 

Click on the module and you will see the different lessons.

Click on the lesson you need.

Then you will see the lesson video, downloadable homework, and links to additional resources. 


The videos vary in length.  Some are fairly short less then 15 minutes while others are around 30 minutes.  The homework assignments also vary in how long it will take you to complete them.  They are not very long but do require some thought and being honest with yourself.  I thought the bonus planners were a nice addition to the course.

The Homeschool Rescue course is full of practical tips and advice.  Some of it you may know already but it's helpful to hear it from someone else.  Heather does not prescribe a one size fits all solution to homeschooling but instead offers ideas to get your homeschool running more smoothly.  I like that you can work through the course at your own pace and that you have lifetime access to it.  Others may enjoy going through the course along with others via the Facebook group.  I appreciate that Homeschool Rescue offers both options.

I have been blessed by Homeschool Rescue!  It has caused me to take an honest look at some of the things that need to be changed in my homeschool. To see what my Crew Mates had to say stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 33

Next week will be the last week I count in our regular school year.  We will still be doing some school work all summer long.  We will definitely be working on math and continue with Bible study over the summer.  We are will finish the section in Readers in Residence on Sarah Plain and Tall before putting that aside until next year and we have several reviews that we will be working on over the summer.  But our summer schedule changes and is much more relaxed and we will be taking some time off here and there.

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 33

Bible: This week we read 4 chapters in the book of Mark.

P.E. We rode bikes one day and ran one other day.  The other two days we took off because I did something to my knee, not horrible but not good enough to run.

Read Aloud: We read 4 chapters in Heroes of History Orville Wright for our morning read aloud.  In the afternoon I am so happy to announce that we finished Shepherd, Potter, Spy and the Star Namer! We started reading Captain Absolutely, a comic book review from Focus on the Family.  In the evening we started reading The Crown of Kuros Book 4 of the Terrestria Chronicles.

Christian and Anthony have been very interested in learning about flight.  They had some money saved up and both bought some nano drones.  They are really small and green and black.  Anthony's crashed into the back yard somewhere about an hour after he bought it.  We have not been able to find it.  Christian has been flying his everywhere, but after he flew it behind me and it got stuck in my hair I told him to save it for outside.

Poetry: We are memorizing a poem called Some One by Walter De La Mare.

History/Latin: We completed lesson 2 in Latin Christiana.  To go along with that we read Numa Pompilius in Famous Men of Rome.

Nature Study: Our butterflies hatched this week!  We had 5 caterpillars and 5 painted lady butterflies.  We kept them in the habitat for 2 days, feeding them flowers with sugar water and fruit.  When we set them free, three flew off immediately but two hung around for awhile. 

Art: We were supposed to do Hidden Butterflies from ArtAchieve, but my girls used every single piece of paper in my house, even my computer paper for different crafts they were doing.  I bought some while we were shopping Friday so we will do our art project next week.

Science: Our chickens are 4 weeks old now.  They were flying out of their box so it was time to move them outside into a new pen.  As they get a little bigger we will move them to a bigger pen.

The new bunnies head for the woods every time they are let our of the cage, so the girls wanted some kind of leash to walk them on.  They are still a little small for the harnesses I bought and the rabbits are really not excited at all about wearing them but the girls like them.

Language Arts: Christian and Anthony did 4 lessons in Readers in Residence.  The girls have been using K 5 Learning every day this week.  Christian got his assessment finished for k 5.  Alex started working on week 1 of Lightning Literature 8.  This is an upcoming review.  I have used several levels of Lightning Lit in the past and have loved every level we have used.

Spelling: Christian and Anthony finished Step 8 of All About Spelling Level 4.

Math: Anthony did some k 5 Math and completed 4 lessons of MLFLE.  Christian did the k5 math assessment and 3 lessons in MLFLE.  The girls have also done some k 5 math and 4 lesson in MLFLE.  Alex started UnLock Pre-Algebra and completed 2 lessons this week.  Nick took a final exam for geometry.  He has completed all of his work for this year except science and his computer class.

MFW K: Emmie completed the lesson on J for jewel and read the story.  One day she decided to copy a verse out of the Bible all on her own.  She did a really good job!

Other Activities this Week:

Tuesday was B day.

Friday we had several errands and Chelsea and Cody came over for pizza and a movie.

Saturday we went to a catfish derby.  We usually catch a bunch, but Alex only caught 2 catfish, Lily and Anthony both got a bass, and Christian and Nick caught a sunfish.  The others out there fishing did not catch many either.  All of the children got a small door prize for participating.

We spent the rest of the day doing outside work.



I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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4 H BDay 2017

Every year our county 4 H has a local B Day competition that stands for Bicycles, Bait Casting, and BB Shooting.  For Bicycles they have to ride down and back through some cones trying not to knock any over.  The Bait Casting part has the children take a test identifying fish and parts of a fish and then they cast a pole into a target.  For BB Shooting they have to take a gun safety test and shoot at a target.  Children ages 5-19 can complete and they can choose which parts of the contest they would like to do, or they can do all three.

I did not get to take as many pictures as usual because I was giving the Bait Casting test.

This year Emmie completed in Bait Casting and won 3rd place for Cloverbuds.

Lily competed in Bait Casting and won 1st place in Bait Casting and 3rd place in Bicycles for Cloverbuds.

Christian won 2nd place in bait casting and earned participation ribbons for bicycles and BB shooting for juniors.

Anthony ran the practice run for bicycles, but did not know he had to do it again to be scored, so he did not earn a ribbon.

Alex won 3rd place in Bait Casting and participation in BB Shooting and Bicycles for juniors.

Nick won 1st place in BB Shooting for seniors.

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