Paul Meets Jesus, another one of those stories that children should get to know.   This book is a ZonderKidz Adventure Bible, I Can Read level 2 reader. 

Book Synopsis:
Discover how Paul, once a man who did not believe in Jesus, became one of the most outspoken followers of Christ in this level 2 I Can Read, written in the tradition of the bestselling NIV Adventure Bible.

A level two reader which tells the story of how Paul met Jesus and his life was changed forever after.

This book would be good for children 4 to about 8, younger children to have the book read to them, older children to read it themselves.  

Excellent illustrations by David Miles will help children to understand the story better.  It could easily be read to them in about 10 minutes, longer if you took time to really look at some of the items in the images.

The story touches on a variety of things that Paul did after his conversion.   It's a good introduction to the Story of Paul.

Day four of Tips for Homeschooling Parents.  Today's Topic: Dealing with Curve Balls.

What might you ask inspired me to come up with this topic?

See this wee beastie?

Yup.  It's a possum.   Biggest one I have ever seen. 

This opossum was our curve ball today.  You do know what a curve ball is?   A ball that looks like it's coming straight for you, but it swerves away unexpectedly?   We didn't see this beastie coming, but we took advantage of him when he did.

THAT beastie was our curve ball today.   It was a moment to take some time to learn about possums, to do some research, to figure out how to remove him from our property in order to keep him away and to see if he was our mystery predator.  

Possums are actually good for the environment in that they clean up dead stock really well.   BUT they are NOT good to have around small stock.  They'll eat mice, grubs, garbage, insects, rats, other small mammals and what not.

Based on the size of this fellow I'm guessing he's the one who killed some of our young bunnies and one of my son's tanks of mice.

My Lad, instead of doing his science or his math today, had a chance to give this fellow a good look over.   First thing he noticed was  "HE STINKS".

And he did... I have to admit.. this opossum, STANK.   I don't know if it was his natural body odour or if it was his "smell defense" that possums can do.  The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis Virginiana),is not native to Ontario, they came as visitors and decided to stick around.   The stink of him made us keep our distance from him. 

Notice was made of the long tail, the mouthful of teeth and the loud hissing noises directed our way.   This fellow was large one so we took the risk of moving this territorial fellow.  He discovered, far from our home, a LOVELY forest in which to now dwell....he left rather eagerly hissing at us as he left.  

Curve balls are just that you know opportunities to learn in a different way.  Whether it's the unexpected one like illness that changes what our week looks like, dastardly predators caught, accidents or the like.   OR if they are planned curve balls like planned surgery dates (coming up in April), co-op times, or whatever... Curve balls can be viewed with suspicion or dismay, or as an opportunity to do things differently and to learn something new.

How you handle those curve balls is up to you, but I do suggest that you get ready for them, because you will always find they come your way.

Other Posts In This Series
The Importance of Family.
Working and the Homeschool Life. 
Tips: Knowing when to take a break.

Others from the Crew are taking part in this five day blog hop as well.   You can find the whole list here, but below I've listed a few people just to get you started.

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Latonya @ Joy in the Ordinary
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Meg @ Adventures with Jude
Megan @ My Full Heart
Melanie (Wren) @ finchnwren
Melissa @ Mom’s Plans

Day Three of Tips for Homeschooling Parents.

As I write this post I have a pounding headache and a drippy nose.   Fun isn't it?  NOT.
I have a boy avoiding me (who has had this same cold) and a hubby being kind to both of us as he finishes up the cold he managed to bring into the house last week.

So as I bleariedly eyed my computer screen thinking what I can I write on, I thought of a conversation I had with my lad over breakfast.

Me "Son, we really should try to get some schooling done today"
Son "No, mom, no no"
M: OH?
S: "Just no mom, we can do other things today".

This is so NOT my son.  Usually he'll say "I can do my Veritas press and my science and my......" and then can we think about if I have to do anything else?

This lad LOVES his on-line schooling.   Everything else he could toss out the window (what child couldn't) but his on-line stuff I never really have to even ask.

AND THEN the clincher.. He disappeared.
Like totally.  

ALSO not like my boy child to do.

What do I hear coming from upstairs.. Cough cough, hack, sneeze, cough cough....

Think perhaps that's a hint that today we should let our colds get the best of us?

Sometimes as parents we need to do that.

Just as if my lad had a bad cold I wouldn't send him off to a public school, just because we are at home schooling, doesn't mean I need to push schooling just because he's home and I can.

I need to.
YOU need to.
Read your children well.

My lad has had flus, colds, not feeling well days where doing school was totally not an issue.    But when he's acting out of character... that's when I find I need to simply listen.   Don't you find it the same in your school?

Time for me to get off this beast and take a break... Sleep sounds good... 

Other Posts In This Series
The Importance of Family.
Working and the Homeschool Life. 

Others from the Crew are taking part in this five day blog hop as well.   You can find the whole list here, but below I've listed a few people just to get you started.
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind
Jennifer @ Faithful Homestead
Joelle @ homeschooling for His Glory
Joesette @ Learning Curve
Kari @ Random Acts of Boyhood
Katie @ Katie’s Daily Life
Kemi @ Homemaking Organized
Kim @ Homestead Acres
Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom

6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words,   Luke 24:6-8

Lyrics

Low in the grave He lay--
  Jesus my Savior!
Waiting the coming day--
  Jesus my Lord!   Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes

Refrain:
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
  Hallelujah! Christ arose!
2
Vainly they watch His bed--
  Jesus, my Savior!
Vainly they seal the dead--
  Jesus my Lord!
3
Death cannot keep his prey--
  Jesus, my Savior!
He tore the bars away--
  Jesus my Lord!

This hymn was written by Robert Lowry.  Mr. Lowry was a popular baptist preacher from the mid-late 1800's.  

As music editor for the Bigelow Publishing Company he published more than 20 songbooks.   He wrote Christ Arose (another name for this hymn) in 1874.   It is based on Luke 24:6-8.

Robert Lowry wrote over 500 hymns before his death.    Some of the other hymns he wrote are : “Shall We Gather at the River?” and “Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?” He compose hymn tunes as well such as : “One More Day’s Work for Jesus,” “All the Way My Saviour Leads Me,” “We’re Marching to Zion,” and “Saviour, Thy Dying Love.”

Preaching, Pastoring and Music were integrated parts of Rev. Lowry's life.  He always placed his ability to preach as foremost in his life, it was his first love. 

Sources:
Plymouth Brethern.  Song Scoops.  Barrys Hymns.    Discipleship Ministries.

Even though I don't use the Essentials 2nd Edition  with the Essential Reader Set by Logic of English the way it is officially meant to be used (at least according to the teacher's manual) it is one of my favourite language arts programs.   Sight words, phonics, phonemes, spelling rules, morphemes, games, and fun ways to help struggling readers.. it's great!    Let me tell you why.

First off, let me tell you what I received from Logic of English for this review.  Introducing the Essentials 2nd Edition  with the Essential Reader Set.

All the above and MORE!   I also received the Essential Readers.   It's a four part PDF download.. teacher's manual, student workbook and two different layouts of the reader that accompanies the lessons.   I did add the teachers to the one file so I could more easily distinguish the teacher's manual from the other files. 

How did we use it?
We did a little bit of work in the workbook.   Not a whole lot of work as my lad IMMEDIATELY started to stress out about it, so I did what I do and I backed off, I know he'll learn the material, we'll just do it differently.  :)

The point of Logic of English is to teach children to learn the sounds, and with the sounds, use them as ways to learn how to spell better.  THIS is the hook for my lad.  At age 10, he is strongly desiring this year to learn how to spell better.  So we are learning to spell better and using this is a medium to learn spelling rules and breaking words into parts, which means learning the sounds and so forth.  

So what we do is take four cards... spellings rules, phonograms, grammar and morphemes.  Each week four cards that we read over and discuss.   We'll talk about other words that sound the same, we do a spelling list based on the words written on the cards, we talk about how many words come from Latin and if you understand the BASE of a word, it helps you know how to spell it better  If you sound out a word into it's parts and figure out what part you know how to spell.. before you know it you can spell the rest of the word if you understand the basic rules of how the parts fit together.

i cannot say HOW MUCH I love their cards.  Love them.  They work well for us.   Focusing four cards is a lower key approach to helping a lad learn.   I can read the book and rework how to do the lessons via question form throughout the week.

I do have to tell you about a part of the program that was a hit.   AND I didn't expect it to be.   The Essential reader.   Drawing pictures, reading poems, making up silly quips, reading lists of words and listening to the sounds, breaking words into parts.   This reader worked and I was amazed!    Doing the cursive led my son to ask "mom, can you get me more capital letter cursive to do?   I don't really understand those ones yet."

I have to tell you this.. it was FUN to see my lad so thoroughly enjoying himself with a language arts program that deals with sounds.   He doesn't fight it, he's just simply queries "what am I doing today mom"?  

I would now like to point out a couple of helpful products that are included. 
This double sided quick reference chart spelling analysis card.   A good way for my lad to remember how to work his way through an unknown word.  (good for his mom too)

 Tile cards for playing games, and quick reference chart.  By the by... ziploc bags work wonderfully for storing the different flash cards and game pieces.

Even though I don't really use the Student workbook with my lad, I wanted to take a moment to show you a bit about the teacher's manual.   You need one to do the other, and teacher's manual walks you through how to use the student manual AND for those who do things a tad differently, it teaches you how to do that too (if you read around it a little).  :)   What to say, what to expect, and how things should look after you are done teaching.    It's great to have it all broken down for those times when I am unsure myself.

Is it harder perhaps to do things in a way varies from the teacher's manual?   In some ways yes, but not really.   The set up, the examples, the walk-throughs... even doing it differently, this is one of the finest spelling curricula that I have ever met.    I like it! 

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLogicOfEnglish/  @LogicOfEnglish
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LogicofEnglish
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/logicofenglish/

Today is day two in the five day blog hop.  And I have to admit I really waffled on what to write about today.   Music?  Faith?   Life happens?   Work?

I finally settled on work.

I touched yesterday on the fact that my hubby is a pastor.   We are part of a small congregation in central Ontario.  We do okay, but not as great as we'd like financially so due to my love of critters I have a small business running a rabbitry.

It's called AT Home Pets.   I raise and sell rabbits and guinea pigs.   It's a lot of work to care for them.  I help my son raise mice.

I am also in the process of learning to make worksheets and curriculum.   I made my first  this week.  The goal is to hone my skills and eventually start to sell them.  I was talking with my lad about this last night about how I am going to hire him to help me create graphics for this endeavor.   He thought that was a great idea.  :)

The question is of course, since you might be thinking, so what.. you have a business, big yip.  What does that have to do with homeschooling?  

I mention all this because like may people in the world it is sometimes a struggle to make ends meet.   To purchase curriculum, to buy supplies, and clothe children.    My hubbies work provides for necessities in life like shelter, food, medical issues, gas and such things.

My business stuff provides for curricula, clothes for me and the lad, treats "just because" and so forth.   Without my income it would be a LOT more difficult to manage the other necessities in life.. like food... we like eat.  :)

Working with animals as a business has provided me with
1. opportunities to teach my son good animal husbandry skills.   Healthy animals make for easier to care for critters, easier to find them homes, better food sources for animals that need them.. remember he raises mice.. his biggest buyer is the local raptor rescue.  He gives them a discount because they help birds of prey get healthy after running into trouble.   He's had to help me think through the type of bedding we use, housing issues, what colours to pursue and such like.
2. opportunities to learn good customer service.    How to be nice with people, friendly, help them discover the joys of owning a pet mouse, to figure out what size of mouse their snake can eat, and so forth.   To write good animal care sheets for the rabbits and guinea pigs and to continually learn so that one can properly educate people when they ask questions.
3. opportunities to do real life math.  If 10 mice cost "X" amount and the guy asks for a deal, what are you willing to do?   Are you going to ask him to buy two more and throw one in for free?   Will you say no?   What if they want free delivery on top of that?     He's learning that good customer service doesn't mean saying yes to every request.    I thought I would need to teach him to save for a rainy day... but this boy is a natural money saver.   He weighs out his purchases carefully which is really nice to see.  He hates that I make him pay part of the mouse food bill but it's part of having them right?  He gets the income, shouldn't he bear part of the price or raising them?
4. opportunities to deal with the less than polite people.  Granted I've shielded him from most of this, but he sees how some people react to the selling of rabbits and guinea pigs (and to a certain extent the mice).   Animal Rights Activists aren't the funnest people to deal with, and he's seen how I've learned to be protective of where I live and how we do things.
5. Opportunities to teach others about animals we know and love.  It amazes me how often people will leap into something without first doing their research.     Selling animals allows us to interact with people, teaching them how to care for their animal, what should and shouldn't be done and guiding them to good sources for information.   There is so much misinformation out there about how to care for animals it's great to guide people to reliable sources.
6. Opportunities to learn time management.   It's not always easy.   Currently I am dealing with a person who wants to buy an animal on Sunday afternoon.   I don't do business on Sundays until after 6 p.m.  This individual is struggling to work around that and it's hard to stand firm.. but family and God is important you know?   It's hard to work around homeschooling needs, family needs, faith issues  in a "we want what we want when we want it NOW" society.   Sometimes it means lost sales which used to be upsetting until we learned this.. the instant gratification people won't have done their research and do we really want our animals going to people who are like that?   Teaching that long term perspective has been eye-opening for my lad.
7. Opportunities to learn new skills. Whether it's learning how to put together worksheets or curricula, or finding out the latest research on mites in guinea pigs, or how to deal with malocclusion in rabbits, finding out what threatens birds of prey... there are always ways to think and improve and do what needs to be done.  Right now we are dealing with a rat problem which with the help of the internet, friends, neighbours and other business people we WILL tackle and keep our animals safe from harm.  We are happy to live and let live, but causing harm has repercussions.
8. Opportunity to be your own boss.  I HATE, yes indeed I will freely admit it.  I hate to be ordered around.   I love being able to be responsible for my own decisions and the running of my own business.  Being told what I can and cannot do irritates me to no end.   So working a job for someone else gives me added stress (which if I have to I deal with) but the freedom of choosing what I feed, how I care, and such like.. I love that freedom.   I disliked working a 9-5 job and dealing with the politics and rivalries you get in a workplace.  Here... the rabbits don't argue with me.. they may stomp their feet for "FOOD NOW!  ME FIRST!!" but they don't talk back or jockey for importance.  Most customers are easy to work with and doing this is a joy.

For my other posts in this five days of tips for homeschool parents see below
The Importance of Family.

You will find other members of the TOS crew participating in this five day blog hop.   The whole list can be found here, or you can start with the folks listed below.

As my son and I were reading in our mammals book tonight we learned about a group of animals called "Marsupial gliders" of which there are three types: Sugar, pygmy and greater.    My son asked "are they like flying squirrels mom?"  We looked up all three before he settled to bed and we both though the faces of the greater were funny looking with their big ears so.. Let's learn about the Greater glider.

The greater glider, like other marsupials (barring the opossum) lives in Australia.   They are the largest of the marsupial gliders...they can be up to 1 metre long, and of all the gliders are the most varied in their colour.    Their colour can range from white to sooty grey, the northern greater gliders have brown with a tan belly.

The greater glider (also known as the greater gliding possum) is restricted to eastern portion of Australia.

A marsupial is an animal that carries it's young in a pouch, they live primarily in Australia.   They can also be found in North and South America.  They range from small four-footed forms like the marsupial mole to the large two-legged kangaroos.

The greater marsupial glider is classified differently than the rest of gliders being more closely linked with the ring-tailed possum.

It is a folivore, dining predominately on the leaves of the eucalyptus trees.  It prefers to be live in old growth forests where it can hide among the leaves.  Their scientific name is Petauroides volans.   To learn more about the Greater Glider, please download the document below.

Sources.
Wildlife of QLD.   Britannica. Berkeley Ed.  Animal Diversity. IUCN Threatened Species.   Wiki.

Over this coming week, the Crew from the TOS Review board will be doing a blog hop about Tips for Homeschool Parents.   I thought it might be fun to participate.   I, unlike some others, really have no clue what I will write about from day to day, but that's part of the fun right?

Today I thought I'd talk about Family.   About how important the family as a unit is to homeschooling well.

Families.
They come in all shapes and sizes.  Big, small, loud, quiet, busy, sedate, of faith, not of faith.   All shapes, all styles, all types.   It's a goodly thing eh?

My family is hubby, wife, child.
His family is mom, son
My family is mom, dad(now deceased) and six children.. boys and girls.. now with respective spouses and their offspring.
We are all different.

My now family is quiet, stay at home, relaxed, faith believing folk.   We like being together... reading, watching TV, doing animation, hikes, camping and such like.  This life suits as well.

One of the things I love about my husbands' job (he's a pastor) is his ability to take his job on the road.   So we can go on field trips and as long as he has a pen and paper, or his laptop he can still do sermon prep AND come with us as we experience new things, learning and growing as a family.

It's a good example to my son, to see his father enjoying these excursions as well, to see the importance his dad puts on spending time with family.  

I know that not all families have this luxury.   Many families have "on the job" requirements.   Fields to work, papers to write, business to conduct, power lines to repair and what not.   Every job is different with it's own needs.   I know that we've had times when we wanted Dad to come with us but he needed to do a hospital call or a funeral visitation and such like.   It's part of the job.

In situations like that though, Dad takes the time to ask us, so how was the trip, what did you like, what did you see etc.   He shows an active interest.

It's so important you know?   For both parents to be interested in what the child(ren) are learning and doing.   It shows the importance of it all.

In what other ways are families important with homeschooling?
1. As a support for each other - if one parent doesn't get something, perhaps the other might.  Or a way to weigh one curriculum against another etc.
2. Bounce ideas off each other - if wanting to build a catapult... dad might have the know how mom doesn't.  If cooking a meal from a foreign country, mom might help cook, dad pick recipes and talk over interesting ingredients with a child more patiently than mom might and together a meal is created,
3. To spell each other off.   Or to tag team events.   To be the watch guard if one parent needs to take a break from the work of schooling and life.
4. To help with the clean up, to turn drudgery into family laughter and communication.
5. To learn how to show love for each other... it's the first place it all starts you know?  

Here are some of the other participating bloggers, please check them out.  :)   Each day a new group of us will be featured.  :)

Imagine a bible the using the popularity of brick building to help cement bible learning?   I am going to be talking to you today about the Faith Builders Bible put out by Zonderkidz.   This bible is done in the NIVr version.

This NIVr Translation of the Bible is put out by Zonderkidz.  When my son received this bible he grinned.   He had to just set himself down and just look at it from cover to cover.  he allowed me to take a picture and then booted me out of his room so he could look it over without me getting in the way of anything, half hour he came out and said "It's a pretty normal bible mom.  They just make it so boys will like it. I like the lego pictures and I like how they used bricks to show the books of the bible."  

When I asked him if he wanted to build anything he saw in it, he said "Nah".  
"Why not"?  I queried.
"They don't tell you how to do it and I don't feel like figuring it out.  I can see what it looks like already."  
Ah well.. at least I asked him.  :)

This bible has become his go to bible for finding verses where he needs to keep his spot open for a while.  He still loves the ease of using the bible on my tablet, but this bible he doesn't have to ask to borrow, he can hold the page open if he needs to copy out a verse, and it's all his to use.

I like that he's learning how to use a table of contents to find the bible book he wants.   He's figuring out it's good to have hardcover bible as well, rather than just using the bible apps, how useful it is to put in small pieces of paper in as holding spots as  you refer back and forth.

Interesting fact: when I asked him of all the bible he uses, which one is his favourite, he said "The Lego Bible".   Why?   "because it like it mom, it's a nice bible for boys".

Some items of note:
Several full colour pages are scattered through the bible.
Each one has a "Buidling Block Verse" on the bottom.
Bible stories are recreated with lego.
Great bible stories directory in the index.
Small bible dictionary in the index as well.
It's a sturdy bible that should stand up to the wear and tear a child can bestow.
Pages are regular bible quality, good for underlining with pen or pencil, not sure good for highlighting.. but like me, my son uses our tablet bible for such things.

I saw this word prompt this morning and said.. hold on.. it's Friday, it's Good Friday today, it's not the day to think "Alive".   It's the day to think of death, and promise and being covered by the action of Christ.

It's not the day for ALIVE. 

Though because of Christ's action on our behalf I don't need to fear death.
I don't need to fear God's judgement.

Christ paid that debt for me.
My trust in him is all that is required of me to have my debt paid in full.

So yes, I am ALIVE because of Christ's action, but today our focus on not on being alive, it's on remembering that Christ suffered his ENTIRE LIFE because of God's love for us.

Remember.. he LEFT perfection, he left just being God to become a human.  A human with all the frailties that humans face.. hunger, tiredness, temptation, sore feet, dusty body, a need for sustenance, thirst, owies as a child falling, pretty girls who ignore...

He needed to grow into what God wanted him to be.   
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

It was a growing process.

So when, at this time of year, I hear a word prompt like alive.. it makes me remember what Christ did, what he needed to become, and how, because of his action, sin has NO POWER OVER ME, so I too can grow to become more of the person God wants me to be.

Now that is what is to be alive.  :)

So the rules for five minute Friday are easy.
1. Go to Kate's blog for the word prompt.
2. Write for five minutes, don't stress on perfection, just write.
3. Link up
4. Take the time to be an encouragement to others.  Visit their blogs and be nice.  That's the heart of this community you know.  :)