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Author: Joy

summer reading fun!

July 14, 2013Written by Joy

I am sure if you follow me on my Blog Facebook Page, you will notice I have an issue. Some could even call it an addiction. Yes, it is with books. I love to read and I love books. Books of all kinds! What is even better? My kids love to read as much as I do! So I thought I would share some pictures of all the books that we have been reading this summer. There are a lot of kids’books, because I hit the jackpot at a local thrift store!

Thrift store find.

We found readers, chapter books, read alouds and so much more! I couldn’t believe the books that we found. Needless to say, we haven’t run short of books over the last couple of weeks.

I had also ordered some reader books for my younger kids based on the Revolutionary War, Civil War and the journey out West. The kids and I will be learning about American History in the fall and I thought this would be a good start in getting them excited about what we will be learning!

American History Readers from Amazon.

We had friends to come and visit us on their trip out west. While they were here visiting, we took them to the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. Since I knew we would be studying about American History this fall, I also picked up this great book about Buffalo Bill and his life, while he operated the Bufalo Bill Wild Wild West Show.

Buffalo Bill by Steve Friesen

I have even been able to relax a little and get some reading in myself. Here are just a few books that I have read over the last 6 weeks or so.

Wyoming Brides by Susan Paige Davis.

The Promise Box by Tricia Goyer

The Texas Bride Collection

Our oldest daughter has been reading a lot as well. I recently bought my husband The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Histories of Middle Earth; Volumes 1-5. So she has been reading those. I recently found a homeschool student that has written a couple of books with her mom, so I bought those for her. They are No Safe Haven and and Race Against Time by Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse.

Race Against Time and No Safe Haven by Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse.

I am so thankful that everyone in our family enjoys reading, especially reading together. I love seeing the older kids take time with the younger kids and read to them. Reading helps to pass away the times that it is bad weather or just so hot that you don’t want to venture out. Summer is only halfway over and I still see a lot of family reading left for us.

Does your family have a love of reading? What have you been reading this summer? Do you have a favorite author that you all enjoy? I can’t wait to hear about your summer reading fun!

Children’s Atlas of God’s World

July 13, 2013Written by Joy

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I am so excited to be a part of the Moms of Master Books review team. On this team, I get the opportunity to review books from an amazing Christian publishing group, New Leaf Publishing Group. The book for the month of July is Children’s Atlas of God’s World by Craig Froman. I was so excited after seeing this book on our list to review!

Children’s Atlas of God’s World.

On the back of the book, it has “One-Of-A-Kind children’s atlas to explore God’s World” and this book really is one of a kind. The Children’s Atlas of God’s World is a very colorful and vibrant hard-back book, that is HUGE. It measures approximately 10″x14″! I told you it was a BIG book! The pages are heavy paper with a beautiful glossy look to them. They are very easy to turn and even wipe off, if any messy hands were to flip through the pages.

In this one-of-a-kind book, you will travel through all seven continents. As you travel through the continents in the book, the author also will talk about many different countries. Mr. Froman has given you a key in the Table of Contents of things to look for and read through as you read through each section.

Christian History and Tradition is marked with a flag with the Cross on it. This talks about Christian history, people of faith and Christian traditions around the world.
Red Pins – when you see a red pin in the book, you will find the number pin on the map marking a landmark, river, or other locations.
Green Highlights are words that are just that, highlighted in green. This is letting you know that it is a city or other sites on the map.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are marked by green flags. This is sites recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Biomes is the last key to look for. The Biomes symbol will share about the habitats around the world, including forests, deserts, grasslands, tundra and many more.

Children’ Atlas of God’s World, Table of Contents

What are some other things that you will find in this book? You will find out the longest rivers and tallest mountains. You will read about Christian explorers, missionaries and many others who made a mark in history. The book tells of the diversity of God’s creatures, natural habitats and the animals and plants that live in them. There are outline maps of the continents and more detailed maps of the countries that are being focused on. Every page that you turn, you will learn something new about the world that God created!

Samuel and Claire reading the Children’s Atlas of God’s World.

Claire showing me the Rocky Mountains.

Our family has really enjoyed this book since we received it. I love seeing the kids reading the book, wanting to learn more about the world we live in. I think it is a great addition to our growing library. This book will also come in handy when we begin our geography lessons for the upcoming school year. This book has definitely quickly become a favorite in our home.

Would you like a book of your own? You can buy it from New Leaf Publishing Group for $18.99 or you can buy the digital download for $9.99. Or better yet? How about a chance to win a copy of the book! Join us for the Book and a Treat Party! There will be some wonderful prizes being given. The Facebook Party will be happening on Tuesday, July 23rd at 8pm (CDT).

Hope to see you at the party!

**Disclaimer: I received this book from New Leaf Publishing Group, in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are my own. No other compensation was received.

2013, family, homeschooling Children's Atlas of God's World, Craig Froman, geography, God, history, Maps, Master Books, Moms of Master Books, New Leaf Publishing Group, review

Tower of Babel Pop-Up and Read Book review

June 13, 2013Written by Joy

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The Tower of Babel Pop-Up and Read book is a beautifully illustrated (by Jon Taylor) book that is published by New Leaf Publishing Group. The Tower of Babel is a 24 page, hard-backed book that has an amazing pop up of the tower. As you see the tower standing, you are reading through pages of amazing color, with it telling the story about the Tower of Babel, how it came to be built and then the fall of the tower.

Samuel looking at the Tower of Babel Pop-Up Book.

In the Tower of Babel book, you will read and learn how the races and languages of people came about. One of the reasons that I love this book so much, is it retells the story from the bible in a way that the kids can understand it a little better. We did read the story from the bible to compare and the author did an amazing job of writing along with the illustrator of the book. They really brought the story to life for the kids!

Samuel reading the Tower of Babel.

I love how at the end of the book, they have a summary and thoughts on how you can apply what you just read, to your daily life.

This book is geared towards younger children, but even my teen daughter enjoyed reading the book with her younger siblings. It is definitely a great read a loud bok for the whole family!

Ready for a chance to win this book?

I would love to invite you to join Moms of Master Books at a Facebook Party on June June 25th, 2013 at 9pm EST. It will be held on the Master Books Facebook Page. Why are we having a Facebook Party? To talk about wonderful Christian books, fellowship with one another and of course, to win great prizes! Be sure to RSVP for your chance to win a prize!

If you can’t make it to the Facebook party and are wanting to go ahead and purchase this amazing book, you can buy the Tower of Babel Pop-Up and Read book from New Leaf Publishing for $14.99!

Disclaimer: I received this book from New Leaf Publishing in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. No other compensation was received.

2013, family, homeschooling book, creation, God, homeschooling, Master Books, Moms of Master Books, New Leaf Publishing, Pop Up and Read book, review, Tower of Babel

Big Book of Earth & Sky review

May 24, 2013Written by Joy

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The Big Book of Earth and Sky is a 15ft chart book that is written by Bodie Hodge and Dr. Carolyn Reeves and published by New Leaf Publishing. This book shows and explains about the Earth and the Sky from the Outer Atmosphere all the way to the Inner Core of the Earth, from a creation point of view. The book is specified for ages 7-12. However, I think a younger child would enjoy it, if a parent was reading the information to the child. The illustrations are very colorful and draws you in to the book.

There are several ways you can use the Big Book of Earth and Sky. You can read it as a chart as you fold it out, panel by panel. You can use it is a resource tool. You can use it as a spring board (along with the Teacher’s Guide), to learn about different topics from the Earth’s Atmosphere to the layers of the Earth. This book would be a great start to use for a unit study, using the Teacher’s Guide.

The Big Book of Earth and Sky has detailed charts and graphs about the earth’s crust, caves and clouds. You can read all sorts of facts about the mountains and the weather. You can explore the oceans and read about deep-sea diving records. You can read about the water cycle, mountain zones and volcanoes. The amount of information packed into this book is amazing.

Our family is a science loving family. We love learning all about God’s creation, how things are made and how they work. This book does not let us down in any way. It talkes about many things of the Earth and Sky. It gives a lot of pictures showing different parts of the earth, explaining how things work and how things are formed. We have looked at this book almost daily since we have received it and have learned something new every time we have looked at it. We highly recommend this book! We think that Mr. Bodie Hodge and Dr. Carolyn Reeves did an amazing job putting together this book.

If you purchase the book online from New Leaf Publishing, you can also purchase the Teacher Resource Guide for $6.99 or you can download it for free! The teacher Resource Guide has questions, activities and discussions that you can do with your children.

Be sure to join Master Books on their Facebook Page for the Book and a Bite Party. It will be May 28th, 2013, beginning at 8pm CDT. The Big Book of Earth and Sky will be featured along with our Bite Sponsor Devo Olive Oil (http://devooliveoil.com/). They will even be giving away a prize! There will be other prizes at the party, including gift certificates. I hope to see you there!

disclaimer: I was given this book by New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books in exchange for a review. All opinions stated are my own. No other compensation was given.

2013, homeschooling, review Big Book of Earth and Sky, Bodie Hodge, creation, Dr. Carolyn Reeves, earth, homeschooling, Master Books, New Leaf Publishing, science, sky

Wednesday’s Around the World ~ Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego

May 22, 2013Written by Joy

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Wednesday’s Around the World ~ Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego

Our next lesson for Wednesday’s Around the World is about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego was taken captive, along with Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar II was king. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to train these young men to serve in his palace. The king tried to change these young men in several different ways. He first changed their names. They all had Hebrew names and the king changed them. Then, he invited them to live in the palace, eat his food and learn the language of the king. The king wanted to reshape their minds and way of thinking so they would become loyal followers of him.

While their names did change, they refused to eat the king’s food. They didn’t want to defile themselves of all the food that the king was served. While they didn’t change the way they believed, they did grow strong and were placed in service under Nebuchadnezzar. While serving under the king, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, the king told them they had to bow down to a huge gold image that he had built. But by being faithful servants of God, they refused. This upset the king so much that he had Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego thrown in a furnace and heated up so hot that it killed anyone who went near it. However, despite it being so hot that not one hair was singed on any of their bodies! Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace and couldn’t believe what he saw! The guys were not burned or harmed in any way! He also noticed that there was another person in the furnace with them! It was God! God protected his faithful followers! Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t believe it and said this:

Daniel 3:28

²⁸Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

After seeing this amazing miracle, Nebuchadnezzar declared that anyone who spoke against God, would die.

The activity for this lesson is a really neat one. You are to attempt to burn different types of material. This is definitely an activity that needs adult supervision. My kids were really excited that they were going to get to burn things! 😉

Items we used to burn.

The material you need for this activity is a candle, metal tongs and several small items to burn. We used a piece of chalk, polyester, plastic, strawberry top, piece of cloth, a paper clip, pine needles, plastic clip and a little of Samuel’s hair. We also had a bowl of water to put out the items that caught fire.

Claire burning a strawberry top.

We lit the candle and each child took turns choosing an item to see what would burn and what didn’t catch fire.

Samuel burning his hair.

Once the kids saw how easy it was for the cloth and hair to burn, we talked about the miracle that happened with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. How not even one hair on their body or even their clothes did not have any burn marks on them at all. God had saved them from the fiery furnace! It was a great lesson to show that if you are faithful to God, He will take care of you during those trying times.

What have you been studying in history and geography? Have you done any fun activities or projects? I would love for you to share with us any history or geography lesson, project or activity that you have done in the last couple of weeks. Just link up below!

2013, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World Abed-Nego, burning, fire, history, homeschooling, Meshach, Mystery of History, Shadrach, Wednesday's Around the World