Archives for August 2013

  The One Year Devos for Teen Girls is written by Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel, who emailed 100 college girls to ask what top 10 topics they wish they had been challenged with when they were in high school.  I was pretty excited to receive this devotional book to use with my 12 year-old daughter, Rachelle.  I think it’s important for children to have Bible study and devotional tools to learn more about the Bible and our Lord. The book contains a devotion for each day of the year. The recommended age range for this book is 12+. The paperback can be purchased from Amazon for $10.57, or on the Kindle for $9.57. There are 78 topics discussed, with most being discussed more than once throughout the year. Some of the topics include:

• Debt
• Forgiveness
• Humility
• Sex
• Modesty
• Wisdom
• Thankfulness

  Of course, the first thing I did when the book came in the mail was flip through the pages to see how the devotionals read, and all of the topics discussed.  Each devotion is only 1 page long, so they do not take much time to complete at all. You can start on whatever day you wish. Each day has a different topic, followed by an Action Step pertaining to the day’s topic. Some Action Steps will refer you to certain Bible verses, and some are simply steps your daughter takes to better herself.

  The first thing that I noticed is that the book is very modern in the topics that are discussed and the wording. The devotionals are very easy to read and understand, which is nice. However, reading through the devotionals makes me feel like a girl 12 years of age is way too young for some of these topics, especially the way that sex is discussed in the book. Now, mind you, I am not a prude at all, but the way that sex is discussed in the book would go WAY over Rachelle’s head. While there are plenty of Biblical references (the devotionals start with verses from the Bible), the book reads more of a “how to do this and that” without actually studying the Bible itself. The book Fifty Shades of Grey is even mentioned, and that’s not something we’ve ever read, and I don’t think my daughter has even heard of it, at least I hope not. I was really shocked that it was included in this book geared toward teen girls. Reading through the topics in the book, I really feel like this is geared to older teen girls that are closer to being an adult than a young teen. I did enjoy the devotional on Modesty, but I would have loved to see something like that discussed more in the book. There are topics such as modesty, truth, worship, and integrity that I would have loved to see discussed more, but they were only mentioned one or two days of the year.

  As you probably already know, or have guessed by now, we are a homeschooling family. Thankfully, our children haven’t had to deal with some issues that are faced often in public schools. I would be more likely to recommend One Year Devos to families with older teens who attend public school. This book is very mainstream, and does not really fit into our family dynamic at all. I really do not recommend this book for younger teens at all. Maybe I’m kidding myself with what younger kids learn about nowadays, or how they think and feel. I did let Rachelle read some of the devotionals, but a lot do not pertain to her, and I feel that some are too risque for her at her age.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of The One Year Devos for Teen Girls to review from Tyndale House Publishers, and all opinions are my own.

  Doorposts has been creating Bible-based character training and parenting materials for more than 20 years now. John and Pam were making tools to help raise their own children, and had friends after them to print their charts. From there, they’ve grown leaps and bounds! You can go here to read about Doorposts’ mission.
  As part of TOS Crew, we were given Because You Are Strong to review, which Issac worked on. Because You Are Strong is a consumable Bible study guide for young men ages 10-12. It’s possible for younger children to work this study, but they would need more assistance than the older ones.  The physical copy is 104 pages and is normally $14, but is on sale right now for $12, and the e-book is $10. The book contains 10 studies, which is enough work for 74 days of study, or 15 weeks if you do a study each work day. If you’d like to work faster, you can of course do more than 1 assignment per day. Each assignment takes between 5-20 minutes. The book contains verses from both the King James and English Standard Bible(my favorite!) versions. The book’s Introduction also gives lots of great ideas for additional study tools to get the most out of using the Because You Are Strong Bible study. This is geared mostly for boys, but there are also some alternate questions for young girls as well.

   Because You Are Strong is used to help teach your young men how to study the Bible, as well as learn about the Bible’s view about strength and how to use that strength for God’s glory. Here are the chapters included in the book:

• Strength for the Race: Meditating on Hebrews 11-12
• Strength with No Limits: A Topical Study on the Omnipotence of God
• Strength and Wisdom: A Topical Study in Proverbs
• Strength and Temptation: A Character Study of Samson
• Strength to be Valiant: A Word Study on Valor
• Strength in Our Weakness: A Verse Study on 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
• Strength in the Battle: A Chapter Study of 1 Samuel 17
• Strength Serving Others: A Study of Jesus’ Actions in the Gospel of Mark
• Strength and Gray Heads: A Verse Study of Proverbs 20:29
• Strength in the Faith: A Book Study of 1 John
• Strength in Review

  2 tools that are recommended for use with this study are Nave’s Topical Bible, and Strong’s Concordance. These can be purchased directly from Doorposts, or from other retailers as well. As you can see, there are several types of studies that are discussed: meditation, topical, character, word, verse, and chapter studies. Additional skills that are learned in the study are:

• understanding and use of marginal notes in the Bible
• studying original Greek and Hebrew words
• use of free digital Bible study tools

As an example, Study 5 is a Word study on “Valor.” In this study, you child will look up the word in a dictionary, concordance, research other verses where it’s translated differently, summarize, and apply this to their own life.

How We Used It

  I was thrilled to receive this Bible study guide. Issac is the oldest, and at 10 years of age, I felt he’d do well with it. I think it’s so important to have children start studying the Bible at as early as age as possible. Some of the study is a bit intense, so I did have to assist him somewhat, which is fine. That’s what I’m here for, right?! I definitely think older children would do better with this as a self-study. Issac used Because You Are Strong as his own self-study work as part of our school day. We also do read-aloud Bible study as part of our homeschool day, so I love being able to add actual study into our work.
  There is plenty of space for writing out answers. The page margins also have some tips and tricks to help your child with their study work, such as Bible word searches, finding online Bible maps, or what supplies you’ll need for the current chapter work.
  I would say that this is mostly a self-study, although you could certainly allow 2 or more children to work together and take turns writing answers. You can go here to view a sample of the book.

  I really like this Bible study guide, and love the study skills that it teaches. Doorposts also offers a study guide for girls, Beauty in the Heart, which I plan to purchase for Rachelle. Other Crew members had the opportunity to review one of these study guides. Be sure to click below to read their reviews!

  For several years now, I’ve heard of people using dryer balls to help soften their clothes in the dryer, and to also speed up drying time. I received a box of 6 Woolzies Dryer Balls to review. Soft By Nature, Inc is a family owned company located in New York.  Woolzies Dryer Balls are handmade in Nepal of 100% New Zealand Wool, can reduce drying time up to 25%, help to reduce static, and are relatively quiet. What I love best, is that they are 100% hypoallergenic! I have a lot of allergies, and this is very important to me. They are also dye-free, being a natural off-white color.
  When I received my package, I was really excited to try the dryer balls right away since I had never used any before. The kids of course thought they were toys and ran away with them for a short while to toss them back and forth. Thankfully I got them back! Since they are handmade, no 2 are the same and they may vary in size somewhat. I immediately washed a load of laundry (with 4 kids, laundry is never ending, so I had no trouble finding dirty clothes.). I threw the balls into the dryer with the washed clothes and started up the dryer. You can use as many dryer balls as you want at a time. Since I almost always have large loads to wash, I always use all 6. When your dryer is running, you can hear a light thumping in there (or at least I did). It’s not at all unpleasant. They are quiet enough that you could run a dryer load and the sound of the dryer balls will not wake anyone up. If you have a million year old dryer that sounds like it’s falling apart, well, then that’s another story. I was pleasantly surprised to find that drying time was reduced a bit! Since I wash so many clothes at a time, it always seems to take forever to dry them.
  These are supposed to help reduce static. I don’t normally have this issue, however I did notice that sometimes the dryer balls would stick to some clothes when I pulled them out of the dryer. They also of course get mixed in with the clothes and fall into the floor, which the kids always love.

  Overall, I have no real complaints about Woolzies Dryer Balls. They are a great alternative to tennis balls or other chemical-laden dryer balls or fabric softeners, as they are an all-natural product made only from wool. I use them with every load of laundry that I dry, and actually I keep them in the dryer at all times. I lose things easily, so this works best for me. You can also scent the dryer balls with essential oils to scent your laundry naturally.

  Here they are, looking like a little dryer ball man!

Woolzies Dryer Balls are available to purchase for $34.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling. They are guaranteed to last for at least 1000 loads, so that’s just 4 cents per load! I’ve only had mine for about a month, and they’re only showing some pilling.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

  If you’re a homeschooling parent, you’ve likely heard of In the Hands of a Child. It started in 2002 with Kimm Bellotto and Niki McNeil, 2 homeschooling moms themselves who were tired of searching for information and things that their own children needed to complete their lapbooks. They came together to form their own company that sells ready-to-make lapbook kits.  There are currently 13 categories of lapbooking and notebooking products available on their website. The lapbook kits include a study guide, mini-book templates, answer keys, and easy-to-follow instructions on how to put the lapbook together and use the materials included. They also offer Note Packs for notebooking, although this isn’t anything we’ve ever used before. We have done several lapbooks in the past. For this review, we received the Kitchen Science lapbook kit. It’s currently on sale for $5. Regular price is $12 and it’s for grades K-3rd. I’m not really sure how long this kit will be on sale.

  The Kitchen Science lapbook kit is 68 pages total. It contains 15 activities, 8 experiment ideas, 13 vocabulary words, related reading, and a bibliography. This particular lapbook kit is about how kitchens and science labs are both alike and different. It’s designed to be completed in 5 days’ time, and everything is broken down for you, if you wish to follow the Planning Guide. The kit suggests that you print on colored paper, but to save money, I just printed everything out on regular paper, and I’ll have the kids color in the pictures.

 For this lapbook, we chose to make a regular base lapbook with double extensions, and this took 3 file folders total. I have never made a lapbook like this before. It’s really neat! You can build these however you wish. Generally they’re made with 2 file folders. I don’t know how others put theirs together, but I staple mine, because nothing else would last in this house.

 This is a front view with the top extension flap lifted.

Here is a view with both front and back extensions at the top.

  The most basic things you need to put together a lapbook are:

• Manilla File Folders (you could also use colored if you wanted)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Brads
• Templates/Graphics pertaining to your lapbook subject

  To conduct the experiments for this lapbook, some additional items you need are:

• 2 eggs
• baking soda
• vinegar
• apples
• oranges
• peaches
• avocados
• balloons
• bottle
• onions
• marshmallows
• potatoes

 The Kitchen Science lapbook deals with “exploring chemical reactions, oxidation, heat, and density.” There are 4 pages of information on these subjects. The kids and I sat down 1 day and I read these pages aloud. The vocabulary words are scattered throughout in bold, so I would explain their definitions as we went along. There were of course some things they already knew, but a review is always a good thing. Some of the cut-out templates feature a question/answer, with the answers either printed in dotted lines to be traced, or just regular print to simply glue in.
  We didn’t really follow the schedule; most of the experiments were done in a couple of days. The one the kids were most impressed with was the balloon experiment. *I can’t give away everything! 😛  The kids all helped with the experiments, but when it came time to put the lapbook together, Lucas was the one who wanted to help glue everything in. I was impressed that the kids were taking noted when I was reading aloud the Kitchen/Science lab info. What’s the difference between a kitchen and science lab? Well, scientists heat things to make chemical reactions happen faster, and cooks heat foods to make them easier to digest.
  Our family really enjoyed the Kitchen Science project pack. It was a lot of fun to put together and learn. If you’re looking for some project pack/lapbook ideas, be sure to check out In the Hands of a Child!

  Click below to read review from other Crew Members.

 Who’s been with me? Wow, it’s been a real blessing. At least what I’ve gotten to listen to so far. If you haven’t gotten to make it, do not fret! The webinars are recorded, and we’ll get those later on. If you haven’t gotten to get a ticket, they are now discounted to $17. You do not want to miss this Expo. It runs from 1-8pm EDT, or 10am-5pm Pacific time. There’s also a giveaway each day of the Expo. I LOVE giveaways. WOOT! What I really love is that you don’t have to sit around on your computer all day. As I said, this’ll all be recorded, so you can come back later and listen at your leisure…if you actually have any that is.

  There are 2 days left. You DON’T want to miss them!

 Not too long ago, I posted a review/giveaway of A Melody for James. My friend and author Hallee Bridgeman is so very gifted in writing Christian Romance novels. Hallee’s books are my favorite romance novels. They’re slightly edgy, but not over the top.

  Did you know that August is Romance Awareness month? Well, now you do! To celebrate, Hallee is giving away an autographed copy of A Melody for James 

 A copy of the the book The Little Book of Great Dates 

And a 36-piece Godiva Gold Ballotin! Who doesn’t love chocolate? I love chocolate, even though I’m allergic to it. Shameful.

You can go here to read an interview with Hallee! You can also enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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